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ZDc (Brcene family? an^ lite Brancbes 



■'*•». 




LOR A S. LA MANCE 



THE GREENE FAMILY 
AND ITS BRANCHES 



From A. D. 86 1 to A. D. 1904. 



By 

Lora kS. La Mance 



TOGETHER WITH POEMS DESCRIPTIVE OF THE TEXT 

By MRS. ATTIE A. STOWE 



.ftv-'(«ns?<'JVVj>- 



Mayflower Publishing Company 

Floral Park, New York 






yf3S~CfZ, 



/ 



XTable of Contents 



PART I 

CHAPTER PAGES 

I Introductory - - - - i — 3 

II The Dim Period of History - . . ^ — I2 

III From 1296 to Deatli of Lord Chief Justice 

Greene, 1370 - - - 15 — 21 

IV The Lord Greenes of Green's Norton, 1359-1570 22 — 27 
V Line of the Beheaded Sir Henry Greene - - 28 — 2)7 

VI Emigration of the Greenes to the Colonies, 1169-40 3& — 41 

VII Following Roger Williams into the Wilderness - 42 — 47 
VIII Early R. I. History to Death of Surgeon John of 

Warwick . _ . . . 48 — 52 

IX R. I. History to Death of John of Quidnessett - 53 — 59 

X The Human Side of the Story ... 60 — 62 



POEMS OF PART I 



The Old Greene Tree 
The So)ig of the Bard 
The Crusader's Tale 
Nor Right Xor JJYoiig 



PAGES 

- xi — xii 
4 

- 13— 14 
60 



PART II. 



OUIDNESSETT GENEALOGY 



XI The Family of John Greene of Quidnessett - 

XII Line of Captain Edward Greene 

XIII Lieutenant John Greene's Line 

XIV Descendants of James' of ALiroon Swamp 
XV Descendants of " Wealthy " John' 

XVI Line of Jabez Greene'', Descent of Lieut. John 

XVII Descendants of UsaP, Ebenezer'and Robert Greene^ 

XVIII Descendants of Hannah Greene-Andrews 

XIX Daniel Greene's Line . . - - 

XX Line of Lieut. James Greene' - - - 

XXI Line of Benjamin Greene^ . . . , 



68 






65- 
69- 

74— 77 
78— 82 

83- 89 

90 — 98 

99 — 102 

103 — in 

112 — 115 

116 — 124 

125—140 



^able of Contents 



PART III. HISTORY OF DOROTHY GREENE-KING LINE 



OHAI»TEK 

XXII 
XXIII 
XXIV 
XXV 
XXVI 
XXVII 
XXVIII 
XXIX 
XXX 
XXXI 
XXXII 
XXXIII 
XXXIV 
XXXV 
XXXVI 
XXXVII 
XXXVIII 
XXXIX 
XL 



Line of Sarah King-Hathaway 
Line of Mary King-Pierce 
Line of Elizabeth Kettle 
Line of George King 
Line of Hannah King-Howard 
Line of Dinah King-Hopkins 
Line of David King 
Line of Joel King - . . 

Line of Stephen King . . _ 
Line of Nancy King-Nichols 
Henry Nichols' Descendants - 
Richmond Nichols' Descendants 
Cynthia Nichols-King's Descendants 
Miranda Nichols-Barnes' Descendants 
Mariam Nichols-Bradley's Descendants 
Sally Nichols-Lamson's Descendants 
George Nichols' Descendants 
Nelson Nichols' Descendants 



PAGES 

143—157 

158—159 
160 174 

175—177 
178—182 
183—190 
191 — 194 

195—196 

197 201 

202 204 

205 210 

211 — 214 
215—219 
220 — 225 
226 — 232 

233—236 
237—242 
243—246 
247 — 262 



Appendix 
Index 



265—283 
287—293 



>f 



Hutbodties Consulteb 

Account of Green's Norton. Eng Rev. S. Beal. D. C. L. 

A Catalogue of the First Puritan iSettlers 

Age of Charlemagne Wells 

Age of the Crusades .Ludlow 

A History of New England Palfrey 

American Heraldriea E. De v Vermont 

American Historical Register. U vols 

Americans of Royal Descent Browning 

Andrews Genealogy Mi'^s Hattie F. James 

Annals of the American Pulpit . Many vols Spragus 

Annals of the Four Masters 

Annals of Narragansett Churcli 

Annals of the Town of Providence. 1C36— 1832 

Apple ton's Cyclopedia of America n Biography 

Beginning of the Middle Ages. Church 

Biography of Henry Dunster Parton 

Bradford's History 

Bradford's Letters 

Braintree, Mass. Record.- , 

Bristol Church Records 

Chalmers' Biographical Dictionary / 

Ciiambers' Cyclopedia. 1.5 vols 

Charleston, Mass. Church Records 

Chronicles of Massachusetts Young 

Crowell's Spirit of the Times Revolutionary Lists 

Curious Myths S . Baring Gou Id 

Daughters of America Phebe A. Hanaford 

Discoveric of Witchcraft Scott 

Display of Heraldry Wewton 

Dictionary of British and American Authors Allibone 

Dorcliester, Mass. Records 

Early Emigrants Hotten 

Early History of Britain Milton 

Early Settlers of Reading. Mass 

Early Ship Building in Mass 

Ecclesiastical History of Ireland Lanigan 

Economic and Social History of New England 

Encyclopedia Brittanica. 20 vols 

Epochs of Church Historv. 10 vols 

Fairy Legends of Ireland Crofton Croker 

First Settlers of Rhode Island John Farmer 

Founders of New England 

Fox's Book of Martyrs 

French Cele brities Claretie 

Friends in America . 7 vols 

Friends' Library. Several vols 

Friends' Record of Portsmouth, R. I 

Genesis of the U. S Alexander Brown 

Genealogy of the Havens Family Lewis & Farmer 

Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of N. England Savage 

Genealogical Record of Family of Parsons Sam. L. Parsons 

Genealogy of Nichols Fami 1 y. A Aaron Sargent 

Genealogy of the Lewis Family , 

Green Family of Genealogy V S. S. Green 

Genealogical Dictionary of R. I !". Austin- 
Greenes of Warwick in Colonial History ■ Turner 

Holstea'd's Succinct Genealogies. 24 copies privately printeclin 1585 

History of Bridgewater. Mass | Hon. Nahum Mitchell 

History of the Crusades V Co.Ke 

History of the Early Colonists v Judd 

Historical Discourse of tke First Baptist Church .\ Rev. H. M. King 



authorities Coneulteb 



History of Eiiglaml Macauley 

Hume 

Wilson 

Otlier standard Englisli Histories 

History of New England 'Winthrop, Puritan Governor 

History of Lynn, Mass Lewis 

History of Northampton. England- Baker 

History of Nortliampton Trumbull 

History of Narragansett Potter 

History of Quidnessett Daniel Gould Allen 

History of tlie Queens of England Agnes Strictland 

History of Pdiode Island G- W. Greene 

History of "Woodbury. Conn 

Huguenot Emigration 

Huguenots of France and America . 2 vols Baird 

Irish Notes Moore 

Irisli Saints O'Hanlon 

Irving's Life of Washington 

Interleaved Almanac Rev. William Cooper, 1716-1743 

Journal of the Plague De Foe in 1721 

Lam b's Biographical Dictionary 

Life of Roger Williams Knowles 

Life of Roger Williams Straus 

Life of Wesley( English ) 

Maiden, Mass. Records 

Marshfleld, Mass . Records 

Mary Dyer, the Quaker Martyr H . Rogers 

Mary. Queen of Scots Abbott 

Mi-Clintock ct Strong's Theological Dictionary . 12 vols 

Magazine American History, bound vols 

Mass. Historical Society's Collection. 5 vols 

Middleburg, Mass. Records 

Middle Ages Hallam 

Milt )n, Mass. Church Records 

Mytlis of tlie Druids Davies 

New England Ju.lged Bi:^hop 

New England Historical and Genealogical Record, 50 vols 

New England Memorial, Morton, ( Puritan.) before 1685 

Narragansett Friends' Reonls 

Nairagansett Histoi-ical Register. Bound copies 

Narrative and Critical Hi>tory of America , Several vols Wilson 

National Cyclopedia of American Biography 

Parish Register of the Barbadoes 

Parisli Register of St. Michael 

Philip of Pokanoket Washington Irving 

Pierce Genealogy Gen. Ebenezer Pierce 

Pilgrim Fathers of New England Brown 

Pioneers of Massach usetts Pope 

Pirates and Amazons Stevens 

Portsm<mth (N. H. ) Records 

Puritan Settlers. 3 vols Hinmai. 

Queen Elizabeth Abbott 

Records of Boston 

Records of Dr. MeSparran 1720-1757 

Records of Essex and 0!il Norfolk, Mass 

Records of Hull. Mass 

Records of Maple Root Six-Principle Baptist Chui:£li of R. I 

Records of Newport Episeopal Church, R. I 

Records of St. Paul Church, Narragansett 

Records of Weymouth- Mass 

Richard tiie Secon d Abbott 

R. I. Land Evidenci\s 

R- I. Genealogies 

fcscituate and Barnstable, Mass. Records 



authorities Consultct) 



Shippiag Lists 1619-1640 

Sudbury. Mass. Records 

Tlie Bennett Family S. B. Bennett 

The Green Family .Frank L. Green. A. M 

The Reformation Walker 

The Waite Family D. Byron Waite 

Topsfield. Mass. Records 

Transactions of the Lancashire Historical Society. (England.) 

Vital Records of Rehoboth. Mass James N. Arnold 

Vital Records of R. I. 1-2 Vols James N. Arnold 

William the Conqueror Abbott 



XEbe ®15 (Breene XTree 

Long years ago, " The old Greene Tree " 

Sank deep its roots in Albia's Soil ; 
Its branches spread and, banyan like, 

They bore to earth ; thus no turmoil 
Could shake this old and mighty tree. 

Was warfare on ? Its branches then 
Made stoutest staffs to slay the foe. 

And Lords de Greenes do Boketon's men, 
Led by their fearless chiefs, became 

A scourging rod for those who dared 
Oppose the will of England's king. 

But warrior Greenes their honors shared 
With those of legal lore ; and Lord 

Chief-Justice Henry Greene we find 
Was long supreme in Judges' Hall. 

His truly just and legal mind 
Was tower of strength to Henry Third ; 

And second son of tliis de Greene 
Lives for all time, in Shakespeare's plavs ; 

And on the throne as England's queen, 
A daughter of this line is seen. 



The Greene Tree grew and " waxed strong," 

Nor would its sturdy branches bear 
Unjust control ; and thus it fell 

That men of Greene were those to dare 
Oppose unjust, infamous Laud, 

Who sought with all his churchly power 
To crush religious freedom out ; 

But persecution proved a dower 
Of Good unto those dauntless souls, 

Who, for religious liberty. 
Forsook their dear ancestral homes 

And crossed the wide and stormy sea, 
That tiiey might live and worship God, 

In freedom, as their conscience taught. 
But persecution was not o'er ; 

Tiie wilderness again was sought ; 
Again was fireside altar raised 

Where men were free. Thenceforth, they throve. 



Their men have filled high place of trust 

In peace and war. Who does not love 
This name of Greene ? Who does not know 

And honor him, that stalwart son, 
Branch of this tree, who, from the first 

Until the righteous war was done, 
Undaunted led his brave men on 

To victory on many a field ? 
'Tis only to Great Washington's 

That fame of Greene dotli yield. 

Read you this book, and reading love 

Those honored ones of long ago. 
Read and reflect. 'Twill make vou strong 

For God and Right, then men shall know 
You are a true and worthy branch 

Of that old, staunch, well-rooted tree, 
That for the Right has ever stood, 

That for the Wrong shall never be. 

Attie A. Siowe. 



l'* ■ 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY 



" Other things being equal, in most relations of life I prefer a man of family 

Four or five generations of gentlemen and gentlewomen — among them a member of His 
Majesty's Council for the Province, a Governor or so, one or two Doctors of Divinity, a 
member of Congress, not later than the time of top-boots with tassels. 

'■ Family portraits ! Some family silver ; a string of wedding and funeral rings, 

the arms of the family curiously blazoned I go, other things being equal, for the 

man who inherits family traditions and the cumulative humanities of at least four or five 
generations." — Oliver Wendall Holmes in Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. 



to 



At the ver}' outset, tlie question of dates is to be considered. There is 
a difference of 12 days between Old Style chronology and New Style, w^hich 
change was made in 1752. The beginning of the year changed at the same 
time from the 25th of March to our present ist of January. I have followed 
the usual custom of historians, i. e. given the month and the day of the 
month O. S. (Old Style,) but made the year correspond with the N. S. reck- 
oning. So if any wish to turn dates of before 1752 into present style of 
reckoning, they have onh' to add 12 days. 

I also explain that the small numerals at the upper right hand of family 
names, denotes the number of generations from the stem father. In the 
English history this is reckoned from Sir Alexander, the first Lord de Greene. 
For convenience, in the American histor}', the numerals begin anew with 
the first emio-rant ancestors. 



^o^ 



This book is what it is, a history of " The Green Tree and Its 
Branches," because it could be nothing else. All the other lines, Nichols, 
King, Pierce, Howard, La Valley and Matteson ran straight back to the main 
line of all, the Greenes of Surgeon John of Warwick and John of Ouidnes- 
sett descent. They in turn belonged to the old and honored house, the head 
and founder of which, Lord Alexander de Greene de Boketon, received his 
titles and estates A. D. 1202. 



1Intro^uctorp 



Some will ask, " Have you not ostentatiously paraded the barons and 
lords, earls, high admirals, kings and queens connected with the lines from 
which this family and its branches have sprung ? " I think not. If it is a 
misfortune to have forefathers with the bluest of blue blood, and bearing 
titles of high honor, then our's is an afflicted line. If it is an honor, we 
have been signally blessed in this form of ancestral riches. We could have 
gotten along with a few less lords, or half-civilized kings ; but they have 
certainly added life and picturesqueness to the dull, early-day history, that 
otherwise we would have known little about. 

The Greenes in all their branches ha^'e always been fond of histor}-. I 
hope this book may add to their children's zest for it. I trust it may make 
clearer to them the misty days of fourteen centuries ago, when King Fergus 
McEarc sailed from Ireland and became the lineal head of kings that for 
centuries sat upon Scotland's throne ; that it may bring nearer the troublous 
days of wicked King John ; make real the checkered career of Richard II ; 
bring before them the court of bestial Henry III, whose last queen was of 
the house of Greene, and set vividly before them the horrors of St. Barthol- 
omew's Massacre, when perished noble Admiral de Coligny, by marriage of 
our line. With all these epochs, those of our blood liave been closely 
concerned. 

Our children ought to love our own land the better, because their fore- 
parents followed Roger Williams into the wilderness ; because at the head 
of men protecting their homes, others of our ancestors fought the Indians in 
King Philip's war, and because the greatest of Revolutionary generals, after 
Washington, was Nathaniel Greene of collateral blood. Surely the story of 
such deeds is worth recording. 

There is probably not another English-speaking family upon the globe 
with such a remarkable religious record. Of our blood have been Catholics, 
direct disciples of St. Patrick himself, and builders of churches and chantrys. 
One branch of the family goes back to Henry Barrows, one of the first to 
profess Congregational or Separatist doctrines, and who sealed his profession 
by his own blood, being executed at Tyburn in 1593. Goaded by Arch- 
bishop Laud's tyrannies, not less than a dozen men and women, direct heads 
of families with which the line of John Greene of Quidnessett has since in- 
corporated itself, fled to the American Colonies for safety. 

These same families became Baptists, and were exiled .into the unknown 
region of rocky, sea-girt Rhode Island. Lastly, the Kings and La Valleys, 
Huguenot Episcopalians, under Louis XV's persecutions, fled to America for 
religious asylum. 

So thrice this family has been exiled for conscience sake, and has fur- 
nished French and English martyrs, who have sealed their faith by their 



1Intro^uctor\> 



own blood. They have ever excelled in patriotism, and their sons have ever 
been ready to fight for their country. In the Revolutionary War, Samuel 
Greene of R. I., sent eight sons into the war, a record no one else ever 
equalled, and Joseph Greene of N. Y., 12-year old volunteer, was the young- 
est soldier of the same war. 

This book covers nearly 300 years of American history. There are 
thousands of names recorded here. I have not found one among them all 
that has ever been convicted of a crime, one that was a deserter, one that was 
an out-and-out infidel, or one that was a drunkard. It was two and a quar- 
ter centuries after the coming to America of John Greene of Quidnessett, ere 
a single divorce occurs in the whole allied lines of his blood. 

Mrs. Attie A. Stowe, a poet and song writer of the Pacific Coast, con- 
tributes several original poems written expressly for this book. I am deep- 
ly grateful to her for this favor. It is pleasant to feel that we have a poet 
in the family's ranks ; that she sings in an easy, natural key ; that her themes 
are the stirring scenes through which our fathers passed, and the noble deeds 
that they did ; and that the old martial fire that the Greenes' sons have ever 
felt, glows in genial warmth through these stanzas of this daughter of the 
house. I feel that the rich treat Mrs. Stowe has given us is worth the price 
of the book to its readers. ]\Iy slower, duller, more lagging prose is thrown 
in as ballast. 



Zbc Sono of tbc Barb 



At Norton's Hall, de Boketon's home, 

High wassail reigned at Christmas-tide : — 
The aged harper thumbed his strings, 

Then drained the flagon by his side 
And, when its contents warmed liis blood 

And roused his pride till wits were keen, 
He voiced this lay, wherein he sang 

Of Alexander, Lord de Greene. 



King John was in sore need ; 

Rebellion stalked the land ; 
Forsooth it fell because 

Unto his crown and hand, 
He'd taked for his own 

Another's plighted wife — 
Despoiled de la Marche 

Was leader in the strife. 

Then called the harried king 

To liis barons brave and bold : 
"I'm your annointed king, 

My will you ?fius/ uphold ! 
stamp this rebellion out, 

And, when it fully ends, 
You shall have large estates, 

For John rewards his friends." 

Then to his king's support 

Sir Alexander came, 
And struck such sturdy blows 

He won the chieftain's fame. 



In truth, foremost was he 
In service of his king ; 

Foremost, on warring lords, 
Swift punishment to bring. 

Because those sturdy blows, 

That timelv qiven aid. 
Enabled John to keep 

The lovely Norman maid, 
His gratitude was shown 

In grants of large estates ; 
From that old Lord de Greene, 

Our lordship clearly dates. 

His fingers cease their touch 

Upon the clanging strings ; 
The singer's head sinks down 

As though recital brings 
A weight of memory 

Too great to bear with ease,- 
A memorv that earned 

From earthly cares, surcease. 



The servitors, amazed. 

Lift up the drooping head, — 
Alas I the bard has gone ! 

With song his life has fled ! 




c/i 



T-c^4yi-^ 



Z^oiy^^, 



a^aC ^ •>"<5i*>c 



MRS. ATTIE A. STOWE. 

(Poet and writer. See Biography, Chapter XL.) 



CHAPTER II 

THE DIM PERIOD OF GREENE HISTORY 

FROM LORD ALEXANDER TO EORD THOMAS, 1202-1296 

Inquire I pray thee of the former age, and prepare 
thyseif to the search of their fathers. 

Job VIII. Verse 8. 

The meager data of the first one-hundred years of the family s history. How the estate 
came to be bestozved by King John. The family name. The title. State kept by the 
early Lords of the line. Their recreations. Alexander s trials as a stem father. 
The Crusading sons' coats-ofarms. The early escutcheons of the Greenes. 

He who steps out into the night finds at first that all is gross darkness, 
but as he gropes his way, dim landmarks begin to shape themselves out of 
the darkness. The faint rays of light grow plainer, and the traveler at last 
walks in a path that has familiar objects to the right and the left, to show 
him how far he has come, and in what direction he is going. So in this 
history the beginning of the Greene family is shrouded in the midnight of 
the unchronicled story of centuries ago. A date or two comes down to us. 
The hazy figure of Eord Alexander rises like a ghost from his seven cen- 
turies of dust. There is a certain branching and widening out of the family. 
Not until the fourth lord of the line comes a record and history. 

The cool, exacting critic, who will accept nothing but what has a date 
and an official certificate attached to it — exactly as a mineral specimen is 
tagged in a museum — will be disappointed in this chapter. All that we 
really know of the first Lord de Greene may be summed up in this brief 
paragraph. Alexander, a Knight at the king's court, was the great-grandson 
of one of the Norman nobles who invaded England with William the Con- 
queror, 1066. King John bestowed the estate of Boughton in Northampton 
upon him in 1202.* 

* The authority for this date is Surgeon Colonel John Joseph Greene, ot Dublin, Ireland, author of 
"Pedigree of the Family of Greene." of which one-hundred and fifty copies were printed in Dublin in 1899. 
Surgeon Colonel Greene spent many years of research, and his statements are authoritive. The Irish 
Greenes are descendants from a younger son of the ninth Lord de Greene. 



^be (Brcene jranul^ 



But when we remember that mean, parsimonious King John had a way 
of rewarding a dirty act done in his ser\-ice by an extravagant gift filched 
from some noble who may ha\'e offended him ; when we recall the date of 
Lord Alexander's patent that followed on the heels of a peculiar crisis in 
King John's history, we have a right to connect these events. It is not to 
the credit of the founder of the house of Greene, but it pro\'es him to have 
been human. Ver}- much such a man, we fear, as some of his sons that have 
lived centuries after him. 

No other English king was ever as hated as was King John. When 
he had been dead one-hundred and sixty-five }'ears, the rebels in the Wat 
Tyler Rebellion took solemn oath never to permit a king who bore the name 
of John to sit on the throne of England. When a Prince John came to the 
neighboring Scottish throne, he changed his name to Robert, because John 
as a ruler's name was so odious he would not bear it. John broke his fath- 
er's heart, and the elder king died, to the horror of the priests, with curses 
of his unnatural offspring upon his lips. This same treacherous prince 
usurped his brother's throne while Richard was in the Crusade. Later, he 
murdered his own nephew, Prince Arthur, witli his own hands. His people 
sullenly bo^^'ed to the rule of this false and cruel king that the}- were not 
strong enough to depose. 

At twent)--three, King John married his cousin Avisa, (or Hadwisa,) 
daughter of the Earl of Gloucester. She was a dull, plain featured woman, 
who bore patiently with his misdeeds. John was King both of England and 
of Normandy, France. At the close of the year 1200 he visited France and 
became enamored of Isabelle, wife of Count de la March. For state reasons 
she had been married when a child to the Count, who was to take her to 
wife when she was seventeen. John carried Isabelle off, ordered his prelates 
to pronounce a divorce between Avisa and him, and then married Isabelle. 

Count de la March set up a rebellion. King John ordered his nobles 
(in 1 201) to cross over to Normandy and put down the rising. They flatly 
refused, rebellion thus threatening him at home also. The king was furious. 
He swore "by God's teeth," — his favorite oath — he would make the barons 
sick of their daring. From attendant knights and other subservient mater- 
ial, he found leaders for his troops. He broke up the confederacy of angr}'- 
lords in England and defeated Count de la March. He rewarded those who 
aided him, and confiscated the estates of some of the lords who disobeyed him. 

The date of Alexander's patent shows that he must have been one of 
these knights that steeled their hearts to Queen Avisa's woes, and fought for 
the king who could make their fortunes. No doubt his very estate had be- 
longed to some of the lords whom King John had attainted. 

We do not know the extent of his estate. The least a great baron could 



X 



^be 6rccne ffaniilv^ 



own and hold his rank was fifty hides of land, i. e., six thousand acres. He 
might own \-ery much more. Halstead sa}-s that at one time the Greenes 
were the largest land-owners in the kingdom. It was somewhat difficult to 
keep the exact boundaries of the great lords' possessions. They got around 
this problem after a unique fashion of the Middle Ages. On Holy Thursday 
or Ascension Day, they each year " beat the bounds." All the men on the 
Lord's estate turned out. His Lordship with his suite, rode about his estate, 
following the received boundary lines all the way, a crowd of boys at his 
heels beating brush, trees and stones as they passed along. Moreo\-er, at 
convenient points, by landmark trees or other objects, a boy was " sharply 
whipped with peeled willow wands," so that he would always remember be- 
ing flogged at this part of his lord's boundary mark. As the urchins re- 
ceived a liberal reward for their stripes, they never lacked for volunteers. 
The Lords de Greene must have punished a small army of boys in this way, 
for the fifth lord, Sir Henry, Chief Justice of England, settled upon his sec- 
ond son, after providing for the regular heir, over thirty manors, each of 
which would to-day support a baronetcy. 

Lord Alexander assumed a surname after his chief estate, de Greene de 
Boketon, i. e., the Lord of the Park of the Deer Enclosure. A green in the 
early -day was a park. Boketon is an old, old word meaning the bucks' 
(bokes) ton or paled-in enclosure. Centuries ago the terminal syllable ton 
had lost its original sense, and meant a town. So that Boketon, still used 
in the original sense, shows Lord x^lexander came to an estate named long 
before, and noted for its extensive parks and deer preserves. Boketon be- 
came Bucks and Buckston, and later Boughton, its present name. It lies in 
Northampton. 

For a long time the full name de Greene de Boketon was used in legal 
documents. Naturally in everyday speech it was shortened to de Greene. 
During the reign of Henry VI, 142 2-147 1, with its attendant French wars, 
the patriotic de Greenes dropped the patrician de as too Frenchy in sound 
for Englishmen, as they now considered themselves. 

The title of the early de Greenes was strictly Sir (Militis), and their 
wives were Dame. Familiarly they were called Lord, or the Right Honor- 
able Lord, and their wives Lady. At that date there were but two titles of 
nobility, earls and knights. The knights were subdivided into greater and 
lesser barons. The great barons held their estates from the crown. The 
lesser barons were like the present baronet, and held their manors from an 
over-lord or great baron. Lord Alexander was a great baron. He had a 
power in his estates almost as a petty king. He had to furnish so many men 
for the king's wars, pay a portion toavard the dowry of the princesses, and 
entertain the king when in his teirr^tory. He had to pay homage also, to 

/ 



8 Zbc 6recnc yaniilv 

show that he held his estate from the crown. We are expressly told of how 
each of the Lords de Greene did this, 1 202-1 506, "by lifting up his right 
hand toward the King yearly on Christmas day, in what place soever the 
King is." [Halstead's Genealogy, A. D. 1585.] 

The Lords de Greene lived in state. They wore rich apparel, belted 
with a gold or silver girdle to which was attached a purse, a rosary, a pen 
and inkhorn, a set of keys and an elaborately chased and sheathed dagger. 
These showed their rank. When they rode they wore gold spurs. Their 
armor was magnificent. ■ They wore robes in Parliament, hats and plumes 
at court, and at the king's coronation they wore a crimson velvet cap, lined 
with ermine, and having a plain gold band. Their ser\'ants wore the Greene 
livery, which was blue laced with gold. There has been unearthed a stew- 
ard's household account, of that same early period, in a nobleman's family 
that kept perhaps less state than the early de Greenes. The steward says 
his master's family consists of one-hundred and sixty-six persons, including 
such servants as the forbisher who kept the armor bright, the fencing master, 
harper, priest, bedesman or praying-man, the almoner who looked after the 
poor for his lord, and the barnes or berner, who kept the twenty-four fires in 
the castle in order. The Lord kept an open table, and fed on an average 
fifty-seven visitors a day. The knights sat with the Lord at one end of the 
long table, and were ser^-ed with the choicest food. " Below the salt " the 
retainers and commoners sat, and ate coarser victuals, or as we }'et express 
it, " humble pie." 

I will add that for five generations the de Greenes spoke Norman 
French. They were a family that delighted in athletic sports. They hunt- 
ed and hawked, and attended tournaments, and played games of tennis, 
cricket, bowls, etc. All of them in their generations were noted for their 
fine bowling alleys, two or three of which were the finest jin England. 
Charles I. used to go to Lord Vaux's at Harrowden, or to Lord Spencer's at 
Althorpe to play bowls at their famous alleys, which were once the Greenes'. 
Here Cornet Joyce arrested him and carried him off to Whitehall and a vio- 
lent death. Each winter they had miracle shows and religious plays, held 
in their barns and roofed alleys. The actors were always men, as " became 
decent behavior." These early Greenes were also much given to hours of 
riddle making and conundrum guessing. 

The Germans call the head of a line the Steinmvader [Stem-father.] 
In a peculiar sense Alexander was indeed a stemmvader. He had a passion- 
ate love of horticulture, that has throughout these seven centuries dominated 
his entire line of descendants.* There is probably no other English 

* A marked personal trait or character is sometimes carried down in a family for centuries. The 
Jews claim that the royal line of David from which Our Lord Himself sprang, was for two thousand 



^be (Brcene Jfaniil^ 



speaking family to-day that has so many members that delight in beau- 
tiful home grounds, and in flowers and fruit, and finely kept farms. It 
seems to have been Alexander's set rule to avoid court entanglements and 
political manoeuvers, and to spend his energies in beautifying his estates. 
With two notable exceptions the lords who followed him pursued the same 
policy. Thereby, even the turbulent times of the War of the Roses failed 
to embroil them to a ruinous extent in their ruler's quarrels. 

Thirteen years after Lord Alexander settled at Boughton, the lords rose 
against King John. They met at Runnymede, only a few miles away from 
the family seat of the de Greenes. Only seven barons adhered to John, and 
he was not one of them. Therefore he must have been enrolled amono- the 
two thousand nobles who put their united protests in the hand of twenty- 
five lords who presented the Magna Charta to the king, and forced him to 
sign that document that guaranteed both the lives and the property of his 
subjects from arbitrary spoliation. It will interest a branch of R. I. Greenes 
who have the blood of the LaValleys as well, to know that two of the ]\Iagna 
Charta signers were Gilbert DeLaval and William de Lanvalley. Another 
signer was Roger, Earl of Winchester, whose great-great-granddaughter, 
Lucie de la Zouche, married Sir Alexander de Greene's great-great-grandson, 
Lord Thomas'*. John revenged himself " like a devil," as one old historian 
puts it, burning castles and doing other foul deeds. He died the next }"ear, 
I2i6, and his old favorite fortunately escaped his fury. 

Lord Alexander's son, the second Lord, was probably a crusading knight 
in the seventh Crusade, which ended in 1240. His grandson was almost un- 
doubtedly one of the knights that accompanied Edward I on the last great 
Crusade, and died in the Holy War. Nothing more is known of this period 
of family history, except that Lord Alexander had other sons and grandsons 



years distingviished for remarkable personal beauty. The Bible bears this out. Rebecca, the damsel 
that was " very fair to loolc upon," was born .seven hundred and fifty years before her lineal descendant. 
King David. " ruddy and of a fair countenance." Of that King's sons was Prince Absolom, of whom the 
Scriptui-es said, "In all Israel there were none to be so much praised as Absolom for his beauty; from 
the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head, there was no blemish in him." Nearly five hundred 
years later, Daniel of '"the king's seed," was chosen because of his physical beauty to stand before 
Nebuchadnezzar. 

The Thatchers, known in Colonial history, boasted of ancestors, who from father to son for nine 
generations, were ministers. The late Rev. Dr. Goodell could say the same of his line. The Emerson 
family from which Ralph Waldo Emerson sprang, in one branch counted eight clergymen in lineal 
descent. Rev. John Witherspoon, one of the singers of the Declaration of Independence, was maternally 
descended from an unbroken line of ministers to the great Scotch divine, John Knox, borne two hundred 
and seventeen years before. The Welsh family of Chenoweth, old enough to have intermarried with the 
Cromwells before the great Protector's day, cannot point to a time when the family was not a medical 
one. In 1884, there were living in the United States no less than twenty-six Doctors Chenoweth. 

The thick, pouting " Hapsburg lip," of the Austrian royal family, was first seen five hundred years 
ago in their foremother. Princess Cymburga of Warsaw. Col. Higginson when in Europe, was annoyed 

by a lord's peculiar brusque manner. His hostess apologised, saying it was only the manners, for 

which the family had been noted for generations. Examples might be multpilied. These are enough to 
convince any doubting Thomas. 



lo ^be Greene family 



who became heads of lines of their own. We know this by the evidence of 
their coats-of-arms. 

The Crnsades brought about the use of coats-of-arms. The Crusade 
leaders rode at the head of their followers, clothed from head to foot in armor, 
— gorget, cuirass, gauntlets, brassets, cuishes and greaves encased the man in 
an envelope of steel, while the closed helmet masked all of the face but the 
e}'es. There was nothing to distinguish one knight from any other of the 
same build and wearing the same accouterments. The Norman-French 
knights in 1147 hit upon the ingenious plan of engraving upon the knight's 
shield a device that would tell who the bearer was. Richard Coeur de Lion 
was one of the first of the Norman-English to take up the new fashion, near- 
ly fifty years after the French crusadeis had begun it. His knights followed 
the kingly example, improving on the original idea by not only emblazoning 
the device upon the real shield, but by embroidering a shield or escutcheon 
upon the surtout or coat worn over the armor, and on this placing the same 
designs. Hence arose the expression, a coat-of-arms. 

A coat-of-arms has been from the first a badge of good birth. Severe 
fines and confiscation of property were imposed on any of common blood who 
assumed a family escutcheon. Coats-of-arms were occasionally allowed to 
those of merely "good blood," i. e. to those who could name their grand- 
parents. Usually, however, it was restricted to those with blue-blood, or full 
pedigree, i. e. those who could name their father and mother, their four grand- 
parents, eight great-grandfathers and eight great-grandmothers. After a line 
has taken a coat-of-arms, all of the legitimate descendants are entitled to use 
it, provided they can prove their pedigree. Less than fifty years ago a titled 
English family died out, and it was supposed the estate would revert to the 
crown. A family who bore the same arms, pro\-ed their pedigree back four 
hundred and three years to a brother of an ancestor of this titled line, and 
the courts awarded them both the estate and the title of their centuries-re- 
moved kinsmen. To have a coat-of-arms was and \s prima facie evidence of 
good blood, and in some European countries those who use them must pay a 
tax on them as a valuable personal possession. 

All of the oldest coats-of-arms were ver>- simple. The shield was without 
ornamentation, and there was no crest, scroll, motto, or mantling adorning 
it, up to the year 1300. The device was usually three charges (devices) 
upon the field, (the face of the shield,) two above and one below. About 
1360 elaborate quarterings, palings, emblazonments, etc., began to apjDear. 
So a simple, three charge escutcheon indicates an antiquity of six or seven 
hundred years. After elaborate coats-of-arms became admired, noble houses 
of which the heirs married heiresses who brought rich estates to them, quar- 
tered the wife's arms with their own. The old house of de Greene in time 



Zbc Greene jfainil^ n 

showed many quarteriiigs and emblazonments. See Greene coats-of-arms 
both on opposite page and in chapter III. 

About 1300 a torce or wreath, representing the twisted garland of silk 
that was the knight's favor received from his lad}''s hand, was placed above 
the shield. It forms the support for the present crest. Borders (bordures,) 
to the shield began to be used, each variation representing a different branch 
of the family. The signs of cadency, as they are called, a crescent on the shield 
to denote a second son, a mullet for the third, etc., did not come into use 
until the time of Henry YU, 1485-1508. This was about the time the head 
of the Dorsetshire and Gillingham Greenes, (from whom the American lines 
of Warwick and Quidnesset Greenes descend,) would have assumed his coat 
of arms. When Deputy Governor John Greene went from R. I. to England 
a few years prior to 1700, he had a new seal made from the family arms. 
This seal is now in the possession of Henry Lehre Greene, and shows the 
crescent, which tells us that this ancestor of four hundred years ago was the 
second son of a recognized branch of the noble house of Greene. 

Nearh' a hundred years after the wreath began to be used, the mantling 
appeared. This is the v%'avy folds hanging down from the crest at each side 
of the shield, and represents the bauldrick or silken militar}- sash the knights 
wore on parade. Crests were the last things introduced upon coats-of-arms, 
thouofh rovaltv and crusade commanders used them before. There is usual- 
ly a helmet as part of the crest. If in profile, showing the bars, it denotes 
nobilitv of hig^h rank. Those who will studv the coats-of-arms given in 
this chapter and the next will find these various changes illustrated one by 
one. These seals and escutcheons are photographed by permission from a 
set of Halstead's (Earl of Peterborough's) Genealogies, three hundred and 
nineteen years old. 

About 1272 Henry III had a roll made of all the coats-of-arms in the 
kingdom up to that >'ear. Edward I and Edward III also had them care- 
fully listed and described. Heraldry reached its height under Richard II, 
who reigned from 1377 to 1398. He established the College of Heralds, 
who registered each coat-of-arms, and the pedigree on which it is founded, 
and gave permission for new coats-of-arms, or to make changes. In Richard 
IPs time there were but seven hundred escutcheons in all England, and an 
overwhelming majority of these became extinct in the War of the Roses. 
So that a coat-of-arms that antedates 1400 is ancient indeed. 

To return to the early escutcheons of the first de Greenes. This was 
at the beofinnine of Heraldrv. The first idea was solelv to show by a device 
who each knight was. All these first coats-of-arms suggested the knight's 
surname, by the name of the object emblazoned on the shield. Inherited 
coats-of-arms were at first onh' considered as belonging to those who inher- 



12 ^be (Brecne jfaintl^ 

ited a title. Until nearly 1300, younger brothers chose whatever coats-of- 
arms pleased them. Thus the Lords de Greene de Boketon chose a device 
that suggested the de Boketon part of their name. It was three bucks 
(bokes) trippant, or^ upon an azure field. That is, the bucks were traced in 
gold, as walking upon a blue field. The terminal syllable ton, tine, prong, 
fork, twig, etc., all came from the same root-word, that at that time meant 
nearly the same thing. So that the deer's broad antlers suggested to them 
buck's tons or antlers. At least three younger scions of the house chose 
other devices, each a play, however, either upon the de Greene or the de 
Boketon part of the name. One represented an English bird commonly 
called the green Woodpecker. It was pecking on a tree trunk in the park 
or green. A second represents a dove with a sprig of a green olive leaf in 
her bill. The third represents a stag's head with wide antlers, which again 
suggests buck's ton or buck's prong. As coats-of-arms soon became heredi- 
tary to all of one line, these three altogether different coats-of-arms prove 
that Lord Alexander de Greene de Boketon had other sons and grandsons 
beside the direct heirs, who assumed these arms before 1275. 



Zhc Crusaber's Uale 



" Ho ! far-off ancestors ! 

Ho ! men of other days ! 
Help me recount your deeds 
In lays of fitting praise." 

For answer, misty shapes 
Take form before my eyes ; 

And "Tell them of ?fiy deeds," 
An eager ghost-shape cries. 

" No ! No ! Of mine ! " "Of mine ! 

Resounds on either hand : 
Just then commanding shape, 

With mien both fierce and grand, 
Uprose amidst that throng 

And did those ghosts berate. 



»' 



•'Give way, ye upstart shades, 

Give way, while Hugh the Great 

Relates /lis daring deeds ; " 
Then unto me he turned, 

His face aglow with zeal 

That once within him burned. 

"In that great First Crusade, 

When Christians sought to wrest 
The Holy Sepulchre, 

Christ's sacred place of rest, 
From out of Moslem hands, — 

In that Crusade, dear scribe, 
Hugh Magnus Vermandois, 

King Henrv's second son, 
Bore stress of leadership. 

A score of times we won 
Our lives 'gainst fearful odds ; 

A score of times we bore 
With famine's fearful \voes ; 

Or bore with thiist so sore 
That naught but honor's might 

Enabled valiant men 
To keep the conflict up. 

Most fearful time was when 
Besieged at Antioch, 

By hunger's pangs oppressed. 
We ate our leathern shoes, 

We were so sore distressed ; 
Then sallying forth we smote 

Th' encircling Turkish foe; 



'a 

13 



We smote with lance and sword, 

Nor did we Christians know 
One moment's rest, until 

Upon that bloody field, 
Two thousand Infidels 

Were forced their lives to yield. 
The Moslems rallied well ; 

We drove them back again. 
And fousfht them till we slew 

One hundred thousand men. 



"The wily Moslem foe 

Surrounded us again ; 
Alas ! from out that fight, 

With scarce a thousand men, 
I cut and forced my way. 

Dear scribe, I'd tell you more, 
For Hugh de Vermandois 

Adventures had by score ; 
But I have said enough 

To prqye my rightful claim 
To rank e peer of all 

Who earned Crusader's fame." 



He faded slow away, 

And, as he went from sight, 
I caught my pen, that I 

Might chronicle aright 
The fame of Vermandois. 

His star of life has set. 
But through all coming time 

Our songs shall praise him yet. 

Mrs. A. A. Stowe. 



14 



Hbbenba 



NOTES TO CHAPTER II AND III 

The second baron of the line, as listed in old rolls of 20th year of Henry 
III, (1236) and 45th year of same king, (1261) was Sir Walter de Boketon. 
The same properties or affairs listed again in a roll of the 7th year of 
Edward II, (13 14) repeat the name of Sir Walter, and also give name of 
John de Boketon, whom we may consider the next heir. As the fonrth lord 
was certainly Sir Thomas, who received the ^.".tle in his infancy, at the begin- 
ning of the reign of Edward I, (1272) this (Sir) John de Bqket on was doubt- 
less the young crusading Knight who perished in Palestine in 1271. This 
completes the names of the Lords of the line, and is given here, although 
received too late to be entered at the proper place in the regular chapters. 

NOTE TO CHAPTER III. ANCESTRY OF DUKE ROBERT THE STRONG. 

Wittekind, the famous hero of old German lore, was converted to 
Christianity A. D. 785. After this there are but the scantiest authentic records 
of him. However, very old traditions uniformly assert, and historians usually 
accept as a fact, that three families descended directly from him. These 
were (i) the Dukes of Lower Saxony, whose head, Duke Ludolf, 850, was 
the great-grandson of Wittekind ; (2) the Counts of Wettin, who were 
descended from either a younger son or a daughter of the hero, and (3) the 
line of Robert the Strong, created Duke de France A. D. 861. The latter is 
by some historians called the son of Wittekind. It is much more probable 
that he was the grandson of that chieftain. 

The Saxons were Pagans of Northern Germany. They worshipped 
Odin and all the host of Norse deities. Pepin, one of the strongest kings of 
the Franks, subdued the Saxons, broke down their strongholds, forced them 
to pay a tribute of 300 horses annually, and made them allow Christian 
missionaries to settle among them. When his son Charlemagne came to 
the throne he felt it to be the mission of his life to crush the power of the 
Saxons, and to convert the nation to Christianity. He conducted 18 wars 

14 a 



i4b a^^en^a 



against this brave but uniortunate people, — wars bitter and blood-thirsty on 
either side. 

A. D. 772, he ground Saxony beneath his iron heel. In particular he 
destroyed the Sanctuary of Odin, and threw down the venerated idol of 
Inninsul, a mysterious, column-like image, the loss of which roused 
the Saxons to a religious frenzy. Wittekind, "Noblest of heathen heroes," 
as one styles him, the " Last Saxon King" as another calls him, undertook 
the leadership of the forlorn Saxon host. 

In 774 this Westphalian chieftan led his army against Charlemagne. 
By 777 that powerful king forced most of the great Saxon nobles to sur- 
render and receive baptism. Wittekind fled to Siegfried, the King of Jut- 
land, a part of Denmark. This is the same Siegfried whose exploits are 
told in the A^ibehengeiilied and other folk-lore songs, which sing of his magic- 
mantle of invisibility and his beautiful wife, Kriemhilt, and of the treasure 
of the Nibelungeii that he brought fioni the far North. However mythical 
these things may be, Siegfried was a lo\al friend to Wittekind, and gave 
him his own sister, the Princess Geva, for a wife. 

It was the next year, 778, wdien Charlemagne's aimy was hemmed in 
in the Pass of Roncesvalles, and the Knight Roland and others, the very 
flower of chivalry, perished there. This reverse of Charlemagne's fortune 
inspired Wittekind to a new rebellion. He came back and again headed 
his people in a revolt, laying west the country of the Rhine. Again he fled 
to Jutland. Again he returned. This last time, in 782, he fell upon the 
Prankish army upon the Sintle River, and all but wiped it out. Charle- 
magne took revenge in the Alassacre of Verden, where he slew 4,500 with 
the sword in one da}^ Terrible battles followed, but the Franks were ever 
victorious. 

In 785 Wittekind and his followers came to the great king at Attigny 
surrendered and were baptized, Charlemagne himself attending W^ittekind 
to the font, and making him magnificent presents. He created him Duke 
also. Wittekind built himself the Castle of Babilonie near Lubeck, and 
ruled his subjects with kindness until 807, when helping Charlemagne, he 
expired in a campaign. He was buried in the church at Engers, where a 
beautiful monument was later erected over his remains. 



CHAPTER m 

FROM 1296 TO DEATH OF LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE GREENE, I370 

These mentioned by their names were princes in their family ; and the house of their 
fathers increased greatly. 

— I Chronicles, IV. Verse j8. 

Hahiead's Genealogies. Lord Thomas*". Lord Thomas^ and his marriage into the royal 
lijie of French Kings. The de la Zouche genealogy. The Lord Chief -Justice, Sir 
Henrys. Services to state. Establishinent of the great Boiighton Fair. His estates. 
His marriage and family. The peculiar entailment of his estate. His burial. 

Ambitious family antiquarians are always proud if tliey can claim a 
royal descent. The Greenes find no trouble in presenting their royal tree, 
as their lineal line to the Capet Kings of France is complete without a break 
or an uncertain ancestor. We have followed Halstead's Genealogy, Brown- 
ing's Americans of Royal Descent, and Rev. S. Beal's, D. C. L. Account of 
Green's Norton, together with the known genealogy of the Capetian Kings 
of France, all of which agree with each other. 

Halstead's Genealogy stands at the head of English works of this kind. 
It was written in 1585 by the second Earl of Peterborough, himself of the 
blood of Greene. He assumed the pen name of Robert Halstead, and hence 
his work is always spoken of as Halstead's Genealogy, although his true 
name is well known. But twenty-four copies were printed. The work is 
valued so highlv that a few vears aeo when a set was offered for sale in 
England, the price was fixed at one hundred and twenty-five guineas, or 
$625.00 ! One feature of Halstead is eighty pages of proofs, verbatim copies 
of official state records, some of them in English, but more of them in either 
Latin or Norman-French. All of the scholars of that day used Latin, .-ind 
Norman-French was the lanofuaofe of Court and Parliament until near the 
close of Edward IH's reign. We were allowed to have this invaluable work 
copied, and by special permission to have photographs taken of its centuries- 
old illustrations of coats-of-arms, tombs, etc. 



15 



i6 tTbe (Brccne family? 

King John was succeeded by weak, irresolute Henry III, who reigned 
fifty-six long, dreary years. Sir Thomas, the fourth Lord de Greene de 
Boketon, was born in the closing years of this reign. In 1270, Prince Ed- 
ward, afterward known as The Hammer of Scotland, set forth on the last of 
the great Crusades. The flower of the nobility attended the Prince as 
knio-hts. The second Lord de Greene was >'et alive. His heir was a ^•ouno• 
man whose rank entitled him to accompany the Prince. Edward reached 
the Holy Land and won some victories, but at a frightful cost of life. 
Young de Greene is supposed to have perished in Palestine, leaving in far- 
off England a little son so young that his own heir was not born until twenty 
years after Prince Edward became king, which was in 1272. The old Lord, 
the child Sir Thomas' grandfather, died a few years after his crusading son. 
" Sir Thomas flourished," says Halstead, " about the beginning of King 
Edward I," i. e. he came to his title about this time. 

King Edward conquered Wales, and then attempted the conquest of 
Scotland, earning the sobriquet of " The Hammer of Scotland " from his 
four wars against it. He captured and executed Sir William Wallace, the 
hero of " Scottish Chiefs." He also carried off the vStone of Destiny that 
the superstitious Scotch believed was the stone upon which Jacob pillowed 
his head when he saw the vision of angels ascending and descending from a 
ladder that reached unto heaven. Scotch kings were always crowned sitting 
upon that stone. Edward I took it to Westminster, and had an elaborate 
coronation chair built, v/itli the stone v/ithin it. Every English monarch 
since then has been crowned while sitting on that sacred stone. 

Halstead continues : " Sir Thomas we find recited in an ancient cata- 
logue of the knights who accompanied Edward I against the Scots in 1296." 
Sir Thomas' wife was Alice, daughter and co-heir of Sir Thomas Bottisham, 
of Braunston. Sir Thomas de Greene^ was mentioned in the records of 1319 
as then alive. 

Sir Thomas, the fifth lord, was born in 1292. He contracted a high 
marriage with one of royal descent, and when about 40 was made High 
Sherift" of Northampton, (i 330-1 332), in the early part of the reign of Ed- 
ward III. " The office was not as in these days, but esteemed equal to the 
care of princes, an office of great trust and reputation, and justly esteemed 
Jionos sine onere?'' {Halstead.) 

Our chronicler continues: "He married Lucie the daughter of Eudo 
de la Zouche and IMillicent, one of the sisters and heirs of George de Cante- 
lupe. Lord of Abergavenny, [on the River Usk in Wales,] with whom he 
had in free marriage nine Messuages, [houses with adjoining lands,] one 
Toft, [a grove,] and four Virgates of Land, [yard lands of from 15 to 40 
acres each,] with their appurtenances in Harringworth. The house of de 



Zbc Greene family 17 



la Zoiiche was lineallv descended from Alan the famous Earl and Sovereio-n 
of Little Britain." Sir Thomas^ by Lady Lucie had one son, Sir Henry de 
Greene*^, afterward Lord Chief Justice of England. 

Lad)- Lucie had royal blood. From her only son liave descended the 
Earls of Wiltshire, Montague, Peterborough and Sandwich, as well as a host 
of good Americans, including the Warwick and Quidnessett Greenes. For 
their benefit Lady Lucie de la Zouche's pedigree is given. 

Charles the Bald, the grandson of Charlemagne, was King of France 
from 8^3-877. When at war with his brothers and in sore straits, he called 
to his aid Robert the Strong, a Saxon leader in England, and rewarded him 
with rich territorial grants and the titles of Count of Anion and Duke of 
He de France, This was in 86 1. Duke Robert v\'as every inch a military 
man, and won renown for his victories over the Norsemen, after they were 
successful almost everywhere else. It is from him that the martial spirit 
came that has blazed out anew now and then down the centuries, amons: his 
descendants, as in Lord Montague and the Earl of Sandwich in England, 
and our own General Nathaniel Greene of Revolutionary War fame. 

Robert the Strong fell in battle with the Norsemen. A son Hugh was 
later killed in a Norse battle also. Robert's two sons, Duke Eudes and 
Duke Robert, are by some reckoned among the kings of France, as they ex- 
ercised the power of a ruler. Eudes long fought the Norsemen with dogged 
courage. Robert^, who succeeded this brother, had civil wars to contend 
with. When Robert's son. Count Hugo the White, or Hugo the Great, be- 
came Duke of France, there was nominally a descendant of Charlemagne on 
the French throne. In reality Hugo was king in all but name. His son, 
Hugh Capet, in 987, wrested the throne from the weak puppet upon it, and 
was crowned king at Rheims, Hugo Capet married a sister of Guilhem 
Fier-a-Bras, (William of the Iron Arm,) the Duke of Aquitaine. 

Their son, Robert the Pious, came to the throne in 996 and reigned un- 
til his death in 1031. He was a good man, but weak king. He obediently 
put away his first wife at the Pope's command, and married Constans of 
Provens, by whom he had Henr}-. who became King in 1031. For nearly 
900 5^ears this line of kings sat upon the throne of France. Henr}', this 
third Capetian king, found it an uneasy seat. The whole of his 29 years 
reign was a constant struoforle with his sfreat nobles. Guerrilla warefare was 
carried so far that the Church proclaimed a " Truce of God," by which no 
hostilities could take place from Thursday evening until INIonday morning, 
or on feast days, or during Lent and Advent. King Henry's children were 
by his second wife, Anne of Russia. She was the daughter of Grand Duke 
Jaroslay, and was lineally descended from Jaroslav the Great, a famous 
Russian of 1000 years ago. 



i8 Zbe (Brecne fantil^ 

King Henry's second son was Hugh Magnus, Count of Vermandois, who 
is better known as the Great Crusader.* 

The Count's daughter, Lady Isabel, married Robert de Bellemont, Earl 
of ]\Iellent and first Earl of Leicester. They had Earl Robert the Second, 
who married Aurelia de la Waer, the daughter of Ralph, Earl of Norfolk. 
This second Earl of Leicester was Lord Chief Justice of England also. 
Robert, the next and third Earl of Leicester, married Petronella, the daugh- 
ter of Hugh de Grantes-AIismil. 

The daughter of Earl Robert and Countess Petronella was Ladv ]\Iar- 
garet de Bellemont, who married Sieur de Quincy. This nobleman was the 
first beside kings and princes to assume a crest to his coat-of-arms. Newton 
in his Display of Heraldry says the honor was conferred upon him because 
he was an eminent commander in the Holy Wars. This crest of his was 
noted for its extraordinary size. Sieur de Quincy was in the Crusade of 
1 1 88-1 192, under Richard Coeur de Lion, King of England. One of his 
fellow crusaders was Robert, third Earl of Leicester, afterwards his own 
father-in-law. In 1207 King John created this nobleman Earl of Winches- 
ter. Nevertheless, when the barons rose against King John, eight years 
later, he was one of the 25 great barons who signed Magna Charta, and com- 
pelled the king to do likewise. His son, Roger, second Earl of Winchester, 
married Helen, a daughter of Alen, Lord of Galloway. 

Earl Roger's daughter. Lady Elene de Quincy, married Alen, Lord de 
la Zouche, Governor of the Castle of Northampton, who died in 1269. Eudo 



*His history reads lilce a romance. He was called Ha:^h the Great, both beeausi? he was a powerful 
leader, and because of his tall stature. As the brother of the King of France, he was given command of 
the French armies of Langue d' Oil. He was the first of the great leaders to reach the Orient. He took 
ship on the coasts of Italy early in 1096. Anna C.)mneua .^^ays his fleet was badly crippled by a great tem- 
pest. He passed on, hovvever, and as he must pass through the Byzantine Emperor Alexius' territories, 
he sent 2i of knights in golden armor to Alexius to announce his coming. He styled himself, "The 
brother of the King of Kings, and Lord of all the Frankish h.osts." Smooth spoken Alexius let him ci ane 
within the walls of Constantinople, then made him prisoner. And not until all of the Crusader readei'S 
with their hosts besieged the city, did he set him free. 

It was a campaign of horrors. In one day 500 men perished from excessive heat. At one time over 
300 died of thirst, and tlie plague numbered its thousands. At Antioch the Sultan Kerbogha besieged 
the Christians until the soldiers from hunger devoured the leather of their shoes and shield^, and even 
ate the bodies of the dead. The last pitiful remnant of bread and wine was used to celebrate the mass. 
Then, at the head of a mob of ragged, starving men. Count Hugh made a sudden and desperate sally 
where the Turks were strongest. 2000 of the Turks were killed on this spot They fled, and before the 
affray ended, loo,ooo Moslems were slain. 

Some time later, the Turks took a terrible revenge. They liemmed in 150.000 Christians and began 
to slaughter them. 149.000 Christians were killed. Count Hugh, who seemed to live a charmed life, cut 
his way through with barely looo men. 

The Crusade closed in 1100. Count Hugh remained to make the little Kingdom of Jerusalem secure, 
the more so that thousands of enthusiasts, both men and women, flocked to Palestine, determined to 
end their days in the Holy City. Alexius again showed treachery, and the Christians marched against 
liim, hundreds of ladies accompanying them to witness the combat. They were out witted and out 
numbered. The women were captured, sold as slaves in Bagdad, and ended their days harems, Count 
Hugh escaped to Tarsus, the city where the Apostle Paul was born. Worn out by his hardships, there 
he died, aged something less than 50 years. His death oecured in 1102. 



Zhc Greene ffanill^ 



de la Zouche was the next in the line. He married Lady ]Millicent de 
Cantelnpe. It was their daughter, Lady Lucie, that married the fifth Lord 
de Greene. She was the fifteenth in lineal descent from Robert the Strong, 
eleventh from Hugh Capet, eighth from Count Hugh the Crusader, and 
fourth from Earl Winchester, who signed Magna Charta. She had the blood 
of lords, earls, counts, dukes, grand dukes and princes, and of three kings in 
her veins. Those who descended from her need not feel unduly elated. 
There have been nineteen generations since her day, and whatever ro)-al 
blood she transmitted to her line must be pretty effectually diluted by now. 

To return to the de Greenes. Both Sir Thomas^ who married Lady Lucie, 
and their son. Sir Henry'', the Lord Chief Justice, received high honors from 
the hand of King Edward IH, one of the best and strongest kings England 
ever had, and whose long reign of 50 years allowed him to bring about 
many reforms. He was a warrior and statesman, with a lawyer-like bent 
of mind. More important laws were passed in his reign than in 300 years 
before. He created Jiistices of the Peace ; made the rank of a duke ; estab- 
lished the Order of the Garter ; divided Parliament into the House of Com- 
mons and the House of Lords, and had its powers first clearly defined. He 
ordered the use of the English language in Court and Parliament instead of 
French, x-ln energetic, change-working king such as he, had particular 
need of a counselor of trained judicial qualities. 

He found such a trusted adviser in Sir Henry de Greene, the foremost 
lawyer of his day. Sir Henry's rank would not allow him to plead before 
the bar, but he put all his mental acumen and legal knowledge at his royal 
master's command. The King was deeply attached to him. Little did 
either of them think that in a da}' to come the King's grandson would cut 
off the head of his counselor's favorite son. 

Halstead tells of the Lord Chief Justice's rise in these words : " He was 
a Commissioner to examine certain abuses of which there was great com- 
plaint. He was much employed, and in special trust and authority under 
those ministers the King left to govern the land in all the long wars he 

made in France His integrity, wisdom and great abilities 

did occasion his advancement [1353] to the office of Lord Chief Justice of 
England. He was Speaker of the House of Lords in two Parliaments 
[1363-4,] and became at last of the Kings nearest Counsel. [State Cabinet] 

And such was his good fortune, he left to his posterity one 

of the most considerable estates of that age." 

" He died possessed of his ancient manor of Buckton, of Greene's Norton, 
East Neaston, Heydmon Court, Heybourn, Ashby :Mares, and Dodington, 
with lands in Whittlebun,-, Paulsbury, and Northampton ; the lordships of 
Drayton, Luffwich, Pesford, Islip, Shipton, Wolston, Wamingdon, Chalton, 



20 ^he 6recne J'amil^ 

Haughton, Boteshaseall, with lands in Harringworth, Cottingliam, ]\Iiddle- 
ton, Carleton, Isham, Aldwinckle, Pishteley, Harrowden, Hardwick, Raunds, 
Ringstead, Coates, Titchmarsh, Warrington and sundry other places." 

One of the I^ord Chief Justice's enterprises was the establishment of a 
Fair, held each year upon the spacious green or park at Boughton. A 
charter* was granted to him to hold a three day's fair on the " vigil, day and 
morrow" of the Day of Saint John the Baptist, i. e. the 24th, 25th and 
26th of June, each year. 

The Boughton Fair became second only to the London Fair itself. 
Noblemen brought their horses and stock for exhibition, racing and sale. 
Silk merchants, sword cutlers, armor-makers, jewelers, saddlers, wig-makers, 
carvers and marble-workers sold their wares. There were feats of tumbling, 
wrestling, stilt-walking and sword-fencing. There were merry-Andrews, 
buffoons and clowns, " wranglers in verse," (poets, who fitted arhymcAvhile 
their patrons waited,) and musicians who played harp, fife and flute. There 
were eating booths and ginger-bread stalls, and shows of giants, dwarfs, 
double-headed calves, and wild beasts. This great Fair was a boon to all 
Northampton. Incidentally it helped to fill the coffers of the Lords of the 
Green. The Boughton Fair still exists, five and a half centuries after its rise. 

The Lord Chief Justice died in 1370, a little under 60, and was buried 
at Boughton. He was the last Lord of the line to be buried there. He was 
early married to Katherine, the daughter of Sir John, and only sister of Sir 
Simon Drayton of Drayton. They had four sons and two daughters. Sir 
Thomas", the heir ; Henry, afterwards knighted by King Richard II, and 



*The original text of King Edward's Charter is in Medieval Latin and is as follows. 
Sir Henry Greene, Lord of Buekton and otlier Lands and Lordships, 

Carta pro Feria in Buclcton. 

Anno 25'' Regis Edwards: Tertii. 
R'^x. Arehiepiseopls, Episcopis, etc. Salutem, Seiatis Nos de gratis nostra speciali coneessisse & hac Carta 
nostra eonfirmasse dilecto nobis Henrico Green, quod ipse haeredes sui iraperpetu um habeant singularis 
annis unam Feriam apud Maneriura suum de Buekton in Comitatu Northamptoniae per tres dies 
duraturam, videlicet in Vigilia & in Die & in Crastuio Nativibati- Saneti Johannis Baptistae, nisi Feria 
llla sit ad nocumentum vieinaruin Feriarum. Quare volumus & firmiter praeeipimus pro nobis & haeri- 
dibus nostris, quod praedictara Henrieus & haeredes, sui praedicti imperpetuuni habeaut Feriam 
preadictam apud Manerium suum preadictum cum omnibus libertatibus libertis consuetudinibus in, 
huyueraodi Feriam pertinentibus, nisi Feria ilia sit ad nocumentum vicinarum Fariarum, sieut prae- 
dictum. 

His Testibus, 

Venerabili, bus Patribus S. Cantuai-, Arohiepiscopis. t'-'tius Angliae Primate 

[Venerable Fathei-. Arch bishop of Canterburry, Primate of all England.] R. 

London. 

J. Wigorn, Chancellorio nostro, Episcopis, [Chancellor and Bishop.] 

Will de Bohun, North. 

Will de Clynton Huntingdon, Comitibus, 

Radulph. Baron Stafford. 

Joh. de Gray de Rotherfield, Senescallo Hospitii nostri & aliis. [ 
Dat. per manum nostram apud Westmonasterium vieesimo octavo die Februarii. [Dated at Westminster 
Feb, 8, (13.52).] 

Per breve de privats Sigillo. 



ll\K 6rccne ffainil^ 21 



made heir to his uncle, Sir Simon Drayton ; Nicholas and Richard, who 
never married, and supposedly died young ; IVIargaret, who married Lord de 
la Zouclie, and Amabila, who married Lord Ralph Raynes of Clifton. 

According to the English law, the title and estate should have been the 
oldest son's, but as Jacob of old loved Joseph above his other sons, so the 
Lord Chief Justice favored his second son above all the rest. There must 
have been something particularly engaging about Henry de Greene. The 
King afterwards advanced him to high honor ; his uncle left him his title 
and estate, and the heir himself, Thomas^, consented to the extraordinary 
and almost unheard of thing, to alienating an entailed estate, and passing 
the major part of it on to the second son. A special license was given by 
the King, Boughton remained to the heir's portion, and Green's Norton 
was purchased and added to it. With that and large moneys, the older son 
was content. 



? 



CHAPTER IV 

THE LORD GREENES OF GREEN'S NORTON, I359 TO I57O. 

History 0/ Green s Norton. Line to close 0/ the Lord Greenes. Lady Vaux s Line. Connt- 
ess of Pembroke s line. Line 0/ Lady Parr, Queen Catherifie Parr a7id Henry VIIL 

Those interested only in their immediate family history may as well 
skip this chapter. None of the American Greenes are of this branch. The 
blood of the Lord Greenes flows in the Pembroke family and other noble 
families, through the daughters. But the males of the titled line died out in 
1506. The interest of this branch centers in Queen Catherine Parr, the last 
consort of that burly old monarch, Henry VIIL 



Norton was a beautiful manor as far back as Richard Coeur de Lion's 
day. He bestowed it on a favorite soon after his return from the Crusades. 
From Earl this and Earl that it passed for 165 years. Several who held it 
died }'Oung. Three died childless, and three left only daughters, so that 
each time the property passed to collateral lines. Baron Morley, to whom 
it came, was afraid of it. Lord Chief Justice de Greene broke the entail for 
him, and acquired it himself, changing the name to Green's Norton. It was 
ever after the seat of the Lords de Greene, instead of Boughton. 

The Lord Chief Justice's son. Sir Thomas^, married Sir John ]Mable- 
thorpe's daughter. Only one son survived. There is an old and handsome 
church at Green's Norton. Here the Greenes, from Sir Thomas^, are buried. 
The family took a pride in the magnificence of their tombs. Some of their 
tombs had rare brasses, which were inlaid panels of fine brass with raised 
letterings. Others had altar tombs of finest marble, supporting efiigies 01 
recumbent statues representing those buried beneath. Canopies, recessed 
arches, and car\^ed coats-of-arms were used wherever they could heighten 
the effect.* 



* In this connection we give the contract for the making of the tomb of Lord Ealrh and Lady Greene. 
XordRaliih was the oldest son of Sir Henrj' Greene who was beheaded in 1399. Anyone with a little 

22 



Zbc (3rccne jfaniili? 



23 



In the church at Green's Norton, at the east end of the north aisle, is a 
depressed arch, under which was once a handsome tomb, now sadly mutila- 
ted. This is shown to sight-seers as the Lord Chief Justice's tomb. It is 
really that of Sir Thomas'" and his wife. 

Sir Thomas^ was born in 1369 and died in 141 7. His only son, Sir 
Thomas^, had a large family by Phillipa, daughter of Baron Ferrars. His 
wife was descended from William the Conqueror, through the Earl Spencers.* 

Sir Thomas'" lies with his wife in the center of the nr.ve of the church. 
The brass of their tomb-slab bears this inscription, that I commend to those 
who would like to try a specimen of middle-age Latin. 

" Hie jacet Thomas Greene miles. D'n's de Norton et Alatilda ux ejus, 
qui vero. Thomas fuit filius et heres Thome Greene Militis. D'ni de ead'ni 
et Philpoe ux's ejus filie Roberti D'ni Ferras de Charteley et Elizabeth 
uxoris ejus filie Thomas Le Spencer, qui quidem Thomas Greene pater 
prefati Thomas Greene, fuit filius et Heres Thomas Greene Militis. D'm 
de Norton predicati, et Marie ux's ejus (filie) Ric'i D'm Strange de Blacmere, 
qui quidem prefatus Thomas filius predicati. Thome et Philippoe, obiit ix 



knowledge of both French and Latin can read it. 

Indentura inter Katherinam uxorem Kadulphi Greene & Thomam Prentys & Robertum Sutton de 
Chelaston. Kervers. 
CEste Endentre faite perpentres Katherine que fuist la feme Rauf Greene Esquier, William Aldwynele & 
William Marchall Clerk d'un parte. & Tiiomas Prenty.s Robert Sutton de Chelaston en Count de Derbie 
Kervers, d'autre parte testemoigne. que le ditz Kervers ount covenantez & empris pur fair & entailler 
bien, honestement & profltablemeny. une tombe de piere appelle alabast re bon, fyn & pare, contenent 
en longure ix pees d'assise, en larguro iiij pees deux d'assise, sur qnele tonibe serent faitz deux images 
d'alabastre, I'un counterfait aim Esquire en aimeset toutz pointz, oontenent en longure vil pees d'assise 
avee un helm de soubs son chies,& un curs ases pees,& I'autre image seriaeounterfait a une dame gisant 
en sa suroote overte, avae deux Anges tenants un pilow de soubz sa teste, & deux petitz cliiens a ses 
pees, I' un des ditz images tenant I'un des ditz images tenant I'autre per la main, avee deux tabernacles 
appeles gablettes a lour testes, quele tombe couuteindra per less costds avee le leggement trois pees d' 
assise, sur queux eostes seront images d' Anges ove tal;iernaclos portantz eseutz, selont la devise des ditz 
Katherine, William & William. Et au.xi ferront les ditz Kervers un ai'che d'alabastre amounte tout la 
dite tombe, en longure & largure, avee pendantz & knottes, & un crest de soytes & autres ouvrages 
appertinent au tiele tombe, les queux image tombe & arehe ferront proportionez endorres peintes & 
arraies ove oculours bien & sufflcientment en le pure honeste & profitable manere come appertient a tiel 
overage. Et feront toatz les ditz overages prestment flatz. & perfourmez. en toutz povntz, en manere 
suisdite, & surmis & enhaute, per les ditz Thomas & Robert en I'eaglise parochiel de Luffwick, en Counte 
de Northamption, as costages & perill des ditz Tliomas & Robert, en toutz maneres choses, perentre ey 
& le feste de Pasque serra Ten de grace Jlcccexx. Purqnelles overages en manere avantdit affaire & 
performers les ditz Katherine, William. & William, paieront ou feront paire as ditz Thomas & Robert ou 
I'autre deulx, quarant liures desterlings. dont feront paier al sesance di cestes dys marcs & al fest de 
Pasque ore prochein aveuir dix mare-^. & al fest del NativitedeSeint John Baptistre adonque prochein 
ensuant dys mai-cs. & at fest de Saint Micliell adonque prochein ensuant dys marcs. & les dix marcs rem- 
anantz seront paiez quant tout les ditz overages seront faitz & sirmys. en manere avantdit; pur toutz 
quelles covenantz avantdit; pur toutz quelles covenantz avantditz & chescun deulx, de parties ditz 
Thomas & Robert faites, a performer mesmes Thoma'! & Robert euo obligent, & clieseum deulx per foy, 
en lentier, lour heirs & executors as ditz Katherine. William, and William, en cessant livres per y cestes 
En tesmoignance de quele chose les parties avantditz a y cestes Eiidentres enterchangeablement ount 
mys lours Sealx. Donne le xiij jour le Feverer I'an du Regne du Roy Henry Quint puis le Conquest 
sisme. 

*The Irish Greenes, who are exceedingly proud of their blood, claim descent from one of the younger 
sons of this ninth Lord Gi'eeue. 



24 ^be Greene family 



die Sep. An. dom. mili'mo cccclxii, et prefata iMatilda una filiarum Joli'ni's 
Throcmorton, armigeri, quondam Subthesarauraii Angl. obiit .... die 

.... an. dom. millessimo cccc Quorum anemabus propitictur 

Deus. Amen." 

Sir Thomas^'^ died before his wife, Lady Matilda — called Maud, after the 
old English custom of nicknaming Alatilda — and she married again. She 
built and endowed a chantry in 1496, wherein it w^as directed by her will 
that priests " Should sing and pray perpetually for a perpetual obit for Rich- 
ard Myddleton, [the second husband,] for Dame ]\Iaud, Thomas Greene, 
(sometime her husband,) his father, mother, and all his ancestors and friends." 
The building has always been known as Lady JMaud's Chantry, though when 
the Reformation came in less than half a centnry after, all monasteries and 
chantries Avere abolished. 

Sir Thomas" left an only son, Sir Thomas^^. the sixth lord in succession 
to be named Thomas, and the last Lord Greene. He had two daughters, to 
whom Green's Norton passed. Boughton went to the Lord JMontagues, 
through former marriages of daughters of the Greene line. 

The last five Lord Greenes lived in the Bloody Century. There was bad 
blood between the Lancasters whose, emblem was the red rose, and their royal 
cousins, the Yorks, who displayed the w^hite rose. First one side and then 
the other gained the throne. There was a see-saw of fighting, banishing and 
beheading. Hume says the nobility was almost annihilated, and 80 princes 
of the blood were killed. The House of Greene survived. Lord Alexander's 
policy, lived up to by his successors, not to intermeddle with the politics of 
kings, kept the Lord Greenes' heads upon their shoulders. There was never 
any doubt of w^here their sympathies were. When Henry the IV of Lan- 
caster, at the beginning of the trouble, basely cut off Sir Henr}^ Greene's 
head for no other crime than having been a good servant to his lawful king, 
he made every Groene a Yorkist to the marrow of his bones. 

If they saved their lives, they suffered other ways. Their estates were 
raided, and the Lords sometimes mulcted for large sums of money. King 
Henry the VII, who never forgot he was of Lancaster, even though the War 
of the Roses was a thing of the past, had the meanness to throw the last 
Lord Greene into prison in 1506 on a charge of plotting treason. The in- 
firm old man was then so near death that he died before the year was out. 
He was released, but not until the grasping king was richer. By a curious 
turn of fortune's wheel, the feeble old lord's granddaughter Catharine came 
to sit upon the throne of England, as the wife of the harsh king's son. 

Lady Anne Greene, daughter of the last Lord Greene, married Baron 
Vaux of Harrowden. W^e are not able to trace her line. Thomas, Lord 
Vaux, a cousin of Queen Catharine Parr, had command over the Isle of Jer- 



.^:' 




jSThomiu Qreene 
^Lord_ of B'uckUm 
^ucu'itcLi'Zouch 



I 



[■r^i^^i -'■-:> ■'■■■■ 








ARMORIAL BEARINGS OF SIR THOMAS GREENE.'' 

(Phoio^raijlicd cxinxsslu f'lr this wovU fri>m Ha'if^t(cuVs Gcncahign, puljUsfhcd in luSC.) 



.'^ic ^•ni/'C >'/ "^ I /^lu'x- (.1! ccnc 



// (/,/;: /"•ti:. .'/ /-/.',//< 



,/iufU 



^ 




THIS IS THE TOMB POINTED OUT AS THAT OF LORD CHIEF JUSTICE SIR 

HENRY GREENE, AND LADY KATHERINE, AT GREENE'S NORTON. 

IT IS REALLY THAT OF HIS SON, THE SEVENTH LORD. 



(PhiitiHjnty)hcd cxjtvc^n fiir tliis imrk from HalsteaiVs Gencalogn, puhlit'lied in loS5) 



JLbe Orccne Janiil^ 25 



sey. He published a volume of poems, some of which are yet found in col- 
lections of poetry. We gi\-e one stanza of his to show his philosophical 
temperament and poetic style : 

" Our wealth leaves us at death ; 

Our kinsmen at the grave ; 
But virtues of the mind unto 

The heavens with us we have. 
Wherefore, for virtue's sake, 

I can be well content. 
The sweetest time of all my life 

To dream in thinking spent." 



The other daughter of the last I^ord Greene was Matilda, who married 
Lord Thomas Parr, and had one son and two daughters. The son. Lord 
William, was a man of high integrity. King Henry the VIII made him one 
of his executors, and he was also one of Queen Elizabeth's nineteen Coun- 
selors. He was made Alarquis of Northampton, but as he died childless in 
1570 the honor died with him. 

A daughter of Lady IMatilda Parr's is mentioned in history as "sister of 
Queen Catherine Parr." She married William Herbert, Karl of Pembroke. 
He was a brilliant man, a man of note in his day. Burke says that this 
Earl on one occasion rode in parade with 300 in his retinue, "100 of them 
being gentlemen in plain blue cloth, with chains of gold, and badges of a 
dragon on their sleeves." The mourning given away to be worn at his 
burial cost more than $10,000 ! Earl William's son, Earl Henry, married 
Lady Sidney. One of her brothers was Sir Philip Sidney, and at her home 
he wrote his celebrated Arcadia. Not a few scholars and authors have been 
in this family, and from it have sprung the later lines of the Earls of Powis 
and Carnarvon, 

The remaining daughter of Lady Parr was the celebrated Catherine 
Parr, born in 151 3. She had fine mental powers, a stately presence, and an 
even, well-controlled disposition. She was undoubtedly ambitious. When 
a child her mother chided her for not being attentive to her embroidery. 
Catherine answered her — " ]\Iy hands were not made to use the distaff or 
needle. ]^Iy head was made to wear a crown, and my hands to hold a scepter." 

She w^as the young and childless widow of Lord Latimer, when Henry 
VIII fell .in love with her. She has been blamed for marr\'ing this crowned 
Bluebeard, but in truth she dared not refuse him. The King used to boast 
that " no man could stand before his anger, and no woman before his lust." 
He was a great lump of fat, a coarse, conceited bully, and cruel as the grave. 
There was an average of 2,000 persons executed each year of his reign. He 
divorced his first wife to marry Anne Boleyn ; he cut ofi Anne Boleyn's head 



26 ^be (Srccne family 

to marry Jane Seymour. When Jane was dead, he married Anne of Cleves 
whom he politely called " a great Dutch mare," — and quickly divorced her 
because he found her fat and stupid. Then he married the all-too-gay Cath- 
erine Howard, and soon beheaded her for infidelity. Then he offered his 
bloody hand to Catherine Parr. 

He--^vould have had her head cut off if she had refused him. Naturally, 
she decided to keep her head on her shoulders, and so married him, July 12, 
1543, when she was about 30 years old. He was a fretful invalid, a mass of 
bloated flesh. Catherine nursed him with tenderest care, and yet she came 
near following his other wives to the block. 

The royal weather-cock had had several changes of heart (?) during his 
reign. Each change of creed he had marked by cutting off the heads of 
some of his chief advisers, and burning a number of his subjects. As a wit 
of that day put it, " Those that were for the Pope he burned, and those 
that were against him, he hanged? " The King after 1539 drew nearer and 
nearer the Roman Catholic faith, though the her.d of a Protestant nation. 
Queen Catherine came of a family who were strong for the Reformation. 
The King's advisers, Chancellor Wriothesely and Bishop Gardiner, feared 
her influence, and sought to make the king so angry at her that he would 
"put her to death. The wary Queen guarded her speech so carefully, how- 
ever, that even their spies could report nothing against her. 

Mistress Anne Askew, a young, beautiful and intelligent woman, was a 
guest of the Queen at the palace. The King's pet tenet at the time was the 
Catholic one of the Real Presence, that is that at the consecration of the 
sacramental bread and wine, it becomes the actual body and blood of our 
Savior. This young lady was rash enough to argue against this to the King 
who, like most men of his stripe,' had a poor opinion of women's brains, and 
was furious that she, a woman, would dare to answer back to a king. He 
accused her of heresy. She was put to the torture. Chancellor Wriothesely 
told her she should go free if she would but tell " who of the King's house- 
hold" held the same views as she. She refused to name the Queen, though 
racked until almost pulled in two, and the Lieutenant of the Tower refused 
to torture her longer. She was tied in a chair, as she could no longer stand, 
and carried to Smithfield to be burned. After she was tied to the stake she 
was offered her liberty if she would accuse the Queen. But she would not. 
*^lie was burned July 16, 1546, three years after the Queen's marriage. 

It was a narrow escape for Queen Catherine, but a closer danger awaited 
her. The King was eternally arguing on religion. The Queen was un- 
guarded enough to differ somewhat from him, and when he challenged her 
for proof her keen wits were more than a match for his bombast. He was 
soon in one of his black moods, and sent for Bishop Gardiner, who urged 




QUEEN CATHERINE PARR 
{From an (Ad Eiiglieh print) 



--H- 



y. 









y< 



^■i 




*1 v-^ 











■/<^ 



/ 



-:3..»AeJjfci 






PhiAographcd Especially for this Work 



thp: church at green's norton 

As restored by the munificence of Queen Victoria and others. Here were 

the tombs of the six Sir Thomases, last Lords of 

the line, and their families. 



^be (Breene yamil^ 27 

Henry to " make an example of her," i. e. behead her. The King consented 
and told the Bishop to go home and draw up an accusation against her for 
heresy. Spies were placed in the royal closet to witness to all the Queen 
might say. Word was secretly sent -the Queen by a friend. It was like the 
doom of death to her, but she resolved to make an effort to turn the King's 
fickle fancy. He could swallow unlimited flatter}', as she knew. He was 
known to have been really pleased when a fulsome speaker to his face com- 
pared him " For justice and prudence to Solomon, for strength and fortitude 
to Samson, and for beauty and comeliness to Absolom ! " If she could tickle 
his vanitv she felt there might be a chance to save her life. 

She paid her daily visit with all composure. The King said that he 
would like to discuss religion with her. The Queen sweetly declined, and 
remarked * " That such profound speculations were ill suited to the natural 
imbecility of her sex. Women, by their first creation, were made subject to 
men. The male was created after the image of God, the female after the 
image of the male. It belonged to the husband to choose principles for the 
wife. The wife's duty in all cases was to adopt implicitly the sentiments of her 
husband. As for herself it was doubly her duty, being blest with a husband 
who was qualified by his judgment and learning to not only choose principles 
for his own family, but for the most wise and knowing of ever\' nation." 

The King took this so well, she ventured further. " She well knew," 
she said, " that her conceptions could ser\'e no other purpose than to give 
him a little momentary amusement, that she found the conversation apt to 
languish when not revived by some opposition, and she had ventured some- 
times to feign a contrarity of sentiment in order to give him the pleasure of 
refuting her." She concluded by observing how much profit and instruction 
she had reaped from his discourses. 

"And is it so. Sweetheart?" replied the king. "Then we are perfect 
friends again," and he affectionately embraced her. When the Chancellor 
and 40 pursuivants came to arrest the Queen, the King gave him a fearful 
tongvie-lashing, calling him " Pig ! Fool ! Knave ! Beast ! " and ordering him 
out of his presence. And so the Queen was saved. But she never again ex- 
pressed a hair's breadth's difference of opinion from the king. 

In January 1547 King Henry died. According to English custom 
Catherine was ever after addressed as a queen and kept a queen's estate. She 
married again, this husband being Lord Admiral Seymour, uncle to the 
young King Edward VI that succeeded Henry the VIII. Her short married 
life is supposed to have been unhappy, as the Lord Admiral was a thorough 
rascal. She died in 1548, not without suspicion of being poisoned, and is 
buried under a beautiful tomb at Sudeley. Poor Queen Catherine Parr ! 

* See Hume, 



CHAPTER V 

LINE OF THE BEHEADED SIR HENRY GREENE 

List of estates entailed upon Sir Henry Greene. Sir Henry's career. History of King 

Richard II. Edivard IV's anger at Sir Henry. Sir Henry's attempt to protect the 

young queen. His violent death. His heirs. Passing of the estate to the de Veres. 

Line of Thomas. fohn the Fugitive, and the legends about him. The Gillmgham 

Greenes from Robert, and those who catne to the Colonies in i6j^. 



It is true that the second son of Sir Henry, the Lord Chief Justice, 
was a young man of exceptional promise, and that he was his father's favorite. 
Yet it is hard to understand how a practical, level-headed man like 
the Lord Justice could fly in the face of the law of primogeniture, 
then held as all but a sacred institution. Nor is it an easy matter to 
account for the real heir's consent to relinquish his birthright, and let the 
younger son take the major part of his father's estate. Hard to under- 
stand as may be, it was exactly what was done. It took a long time 
to get around the cumbersome red-tape of English administration of English 
laws. The Lord Chief Justice's many estates had _to be broken up, one by 
one, and re-entailed. It was in 1352 that he purchased Greene's Norton, — a 
part of the consideration by which Lord Thomas surrendered his birth- 
right — and 1359 w^hen Halstead speaks of the re-entailment as fully com- 
pleted. 

No full list has been preserved of the many manors settled upon 
Henry, the younger son. The more important and richest estates old 
historians list thus: 

Emerton. 

Hardwick. 

Harrowden. 

Raunds. 

Chalton. 

Warringfton. 



Buckworth. 

Harringworth. 

Luffwich. 

Islip. 

Shipton, 

Titmarsh. 

Alwincle. 



Grafton. 

]\Iiddleton. 

Carlton. 

Isham. 

Sudborow. 

Irtlingburg. 



Haughton. 



Ringstead. 



28 




(i) The Greene Arms (2) The Drayton Arms 

SEALS OF THE BEHEADED SIR HENRY GREENE 






Lord ofSSiljrltfn 



^.HenniO'rvent 
litrd oflrritvlo'i 
MMididi. WMJuit. 









I J.,.nc> ,:,'/. 




^^ 










\.\"k,. ':.:■■-./ I'.-'Y 




! ■,•/■, 




ruc 



of '£xt4 II. 




.v.. 



if'lf/ijm'J..'rJ 




zm 



I K^tttf If ree.m 
I /,',/"/>"'-■' I/'-'" 
'L'a^fvu . 'Mall ru 

I ^^ 



/.ancil^'fnre 












TT? 








COATS OF ARMS OF THE HOUSE OF THE BEHEADED SIR HENRY GREENE. 
iPhoto(jrap]u:d e.vprcsifbi for this ^rork from HahtiXKVf GrjicaUigy, puhJislicd in loSo.) 



Zbc evccnc ffainil^ 29 



Wolston. Battershaseall. Coats. 

Pitchelery. Cottington, Warringdon. 

Charlton. 

Halstead adds that through Henry's marriage with IMatilda, sole 
heiress of her father, Lord Thomas Mauduit, the lordships of Werminister, 
Westburg, Lye, Grateley, Dychurch, "and other fair possessions" were 
added to his estates. 

]\Iore than this, Henry's childless uncle, Simon, Lord of Drayton, 
settled his large estate upon this nephew, stipulating that when he was dead 
Henry should assume the title and bear on his escutcheon the Drayton coat- 
of-arms. In time this all came about, as will be seen by consulting the 
coat-of-arms on the next page. 

]\Iany of these manors were then noted ones, or afterwards became 
historical because of famous men or events connected with them. Edward 
the Confessor, one of the last Saxon Kings, was born in Islip. The 
unfortunate Charles I, when "retired" to Northampton in practical im- 
prisonment, used often to go over to Harrowden to play games on its famous 
bowling green. At Luffwich's handsome church, man}- of this line of 
Greenes were buried. The poet Dryden was born at Aldwincle, and 
at Drayton (Bury) both George Fox, the founder of the Friends or Quakers, 
and Sir Robert Peel, the great statesman, was born. 

Like his father, Henry refused to follow the usual Greene policy 
of burying himself on his estates. He loved public life. His ability was 
so great that he became as prominent a statesman as his father before him. 
He was sent to the House of Commons, and was soon one of the leaders. 
The king knighted him. Sir Henry, as he henceforth became, was 
made one of the king's near Counsellors, and later was appointed one 
of the Parliamentary Commissioners who helped the king govern the 
country. 

Halstead gives this interesting account of this bright period of his 
ancestor's fortune: " The ambitions of the young Henry Greene, fomented 
by these favors of fortune, drew him to the Court, where he resolutely joined 
his hopes and expectations to the fate of that unhappy prince, King Richard 
II, at whose hand he received the honor of knio-hthood. The merits of his 
person soon acquired him the nearest favor of this king, and those of his 
mind, the approbation and encouragement of all his Council, into the 
members whereof he was chosen for his s^reat faithfulness and abilities." 

"And when the Conspiracies of divers of the turbulent and seditious 
Lords had obliged the King to condemn some and banish others, he con- 
ferred (1395) several parcels of their confiscated lands upon Sir Henry 
Greene, as the IManors of Kibworth, Cotgrave, and Preston Capes, that 



30 ITbe (Brccne jTamtl^ 

appertained to Thomas, Earl of Warwick, those of Knighton, Covelle, and 
Bulkington* in the County of Wilts, by reason of the attainer of Richard, 
Earl of Arundell; and the Place of Lord Cobham in London with all its 
furniture. To the end that he might secure the fidelity of those about him by 
exemplary satisfaction for their services and hazards. And indeed, had not 
the perv^erseness of this King's Planet (which obstinately prospered the Rebel- 
lion of his Enemies.) overwhelmed all of his hopes, there was not any great- 
ness unto which the deserts of this Sir Henry might not well have 
attained," 

Yet this very favor of the King was Sir Henry's undoing. To under- 
stand how this came about, we must turn to the historv of this kinof. 

Edward HI died in 1377, leaving a grandson, Richard II, on the 
throne. Great hopes were entertained of this king, far better morally 
than most of his predecessors, and showing at time, great courage, will and 
ability. Unfortunately, he was at other times eccentric and ill-balanced 
almost to insanity. Twice Parliament adopted the extraordinary measure 
of appointing a Board of Commissioners who had to formally sanction the 
King's acts before they could be lawful. 

Time would fail to tell of Richard IPs queer doings. He was but 
sixteen when, in 1382, he married Princess Anne of Bohemia. She was a 
warm-hearted, amiable, pious queen, yet she loved fashion, and is re- 
membered as the one who introduced fans into Ens^land, and who taueht 
the ladies of the kingdom to ride on side-saddles. It was at the gay and 
crowded Courts of Richard and Anne that gentlemen wore pointed shoes 
that turned up so high at the toes that they were sometimes tied to the 
shin to keep them from turning down. The ladies, not to be outdone, 
wore hennings or cornettes, horn-shaped head-dresses made over wire, and 
towering high above the head, and adorned with lace, fringes and spangles. 
(Imagine dapper Sir Henry at Court, wearing shoes with an six-inch peak 
to them, while Lady Matilda moved majestically about wath a two-foot 
cornette upon her head !) 

Queen Anne died in 1394 and Richard mourned her with almost a mad- 
man's outburst of grief. Nevertheless, he married again the next year. He 
was childless, and his cousins were plotting for his throne. Instead of try- 
ing to secure an early heir, however, the one thing that could keep down 
his rivals' intrigues, in one of his folly-fits he married Isabelle the daughter 
of the King of France, a pretty, dark-eyed child of eight, and put her 
in Windsor palace to be educated for her high duties. 

Upon a certain occasion he banished for ten years the rival he 

*This makes 40 known manors that Sir Henry possessed, besides his town houses in London. 



^be (Brecne ^'ainil^ 31 

most feared, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford and Lancaster, his own 
cousin. Such a sentence carried with it a confiscation of the banished man's 
property to the crown. King Richard, however, to his Court, and to the 
young Duke himself, pledged his kingly \vord that Bolingbroke should 
not lose either his lands, or the estate that would come to him on the death 
of his father, the old Duke of Lancaster. When the old Duke died, how- 
ever, Richard coveted his great wealth. He knew, beside, that it would be 
spert by the new Duke in fomenting uprisings and hiring troops against 
himself. 

The Parliament of 1399 had just placed another Commission over the 
ill-balanced king. Richard appealed to them to allow him to confiscate 
the dukedom. By every consideration of honor, the King was bound 
to keep his royal oath. Nevertheless, being King, with the power that 
kings at that day possessed, he had the legal right to annul his former 
decision, and keep the estate and money. Sir Henry Greene, who had 
been trained under his father, and had all of the intricacies of the law at 
his tongue's end, seems to have pointed out to the Commission that Richard's 
demand was lawful. Whereupon the unanimous Board of Commissioners 
sanctioned the King's action. 

All England was indignant over the disgraceful breaking of a King's 
oath. The banished Duke was furious, and laid all the blame on Sir Henry 
Greene, who was considered to be " the brains of the Commission." About 
this time there was something of a rebellion in Ireland. King Richard 
made another of his foolish moves by posting off in person to Ireland, and 
leaving England open to invasion. Bolingbroke promptly sailed to 
England, and most of the army went over to him. Sir Henry might 
have escaped, but he would not leave his royal master's child-queen 
to her fate. He made all speed with little Queen Isabelle into the 
strong castle of Bristol, where there was a strong garrison. The com- 
mander of the garrison treacherously surrendered the city to Boling- 
broke without a blow, and at Bolingbroke's command, delivered Sir 
Henry Greene and two companions, Sir John Bushy or Bushey and 
the Earl of Wiltshire, disarmed and bound, to him. The next day 
they were beheaded. 

Shakespeare, who devotes much of Acts I and II of his Richard II to 
Sir Henry Greene, puts into the mouth of Bolingbroke, as these 
members of the Commission were brought before him, these words: 

"Brin<r forth these men. — 
Bushy and Greene, I will not vex your souls 
(Since presently your souls must part your bodies) 
With too much urging your pernicious lives, 



32 tTbc 6recne fainilv^ 

For 'twere no charity; yet ,to wash your blood 
From off my hands, here in view of men, 
I will unfold some causes of your deaths. 

"You have misled a prince, a royal king, 
A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments. 
By you unhappied aud disfigur'd clean. 

Myself a prince, by fortune of my birth; 

Near to the king in blood: and near in love. 

Till you did make iiim misinterpret me, — 

Have stooped my neck under your injuries. 

And sigh'd my English breath in foreign clouds, 

Eating the bitter bread of banishment; 

While you have fed upon my seignories, 

Disparked my parks, and felled my forest woods; 

From mine own window torn my household coat, 

Raz'd out my impress, leavmg me no sign — 

Save men's opinions, and my living blood — 

To show tlie world I am a gentleman. 

This, and much more, much more than twice all this. 

Condemn }-ou to the death. See them delivered over 

To execution and the hand of death." 

As with much else in this play, this harangue is probably purely fiction. 
Bolingbroke seems to have hustled them out without ceremony or the shadow 
of a trial, for lio other crime than beinsf loval to their anointed kine, 
to the market-place at Bristol, In ]\Iarket Square stood an imposing, high 
market-cross, of which the city was justly proud. At its foot he cut their 
heads off. So ignominiously perished September 2, 1399, Sir Henry 
Greene'''. Only a few months more, with King Richard in captivity, Boling- 
broke had himself crowned as Henr}- I\\ He made a strong and diplomatic 
king, but to the day of his death, fourteen years after, he had fits of 
remorse and was constantly haunted bv visions of those three treach- 
erously slain at Bristol. He made all the amends in his power to the 
family of Sir Henry. 

The beheaded Sir Henry Greene^ and Lady Matilda left' seven children, 
Ralph, John, Thomas, Henry, Eleanor, Elizabeth and ]\Iary. Two of the 
daughters married noblemen; Ralph and John were successively Lord 
Greene. The great estate, in the end, passed through the last heiress 
of John's line to the Earls of Wiltshire and Peterborough, her descendants. 
Of Henry, the youngest son of Sir Henr}-, we know no more. He probably 
died in some of the wars of the "Bloodv Centurv," leaving no children. 
Thomas, the third son, was the ancestor of the Gillingham Greenes. 




Seal of John Greene 
Drayton and Mandnit Anus 




^"^>, > 



Seal of Ralph Greene 
Drayton and Mandnit Arms 




Seal of Ralph Greene 
Greene a^id Mandnit Arms 

SEALS OF THE SONS OF THE BEHEADED SIR HENRY GREENE 



[J'ht>UH]ya])][cd fmm HaUlcacVs Gciualixjij printed in IC'S.j) 






y^^r. 




TOMB OF SIR RALPH GREENE*, SON OF THE BEHEADED LORD GREENE 




^ l Al, J#,^jl.^^|^|>JPJ,^JJJJ,^lJ.4l■ ■u i ' uiM»^:j ' ^^jy>'H ^ 



TOMB OF EDWARD*", EARL OF WILTSHIRE 

TOMBS WITH EFFIGIES. LINE OF BEHEADED SIR HENRY GREENE 

{Photografihcd hij Roacli, Enulaml, crprrsslij fur thh u-iirl;, fnim HaMead'a Gtiienhigy, puhU>:hcd in 1C85) 



^be (Brcene family 33 



In the very first year of King Henry IV, Ralj^lr-, Sir Henr\-'s oldest son, 
was restored to his title and estates,* and received in after years particular 
honors from the king. The beautiful tomb of this Lord Greene of Dra^-ton 
is shown on opposite page. As he left no children, the estate passed to his 
brother John,* who left three children. 

Lord Henry^ next succeeded. He left an only daughter, who married 
John, Earl of Wiltshire, the second son of the Duke of Buckingham. Their 
only heir was Edward,^'' Earl of Wiltshire, who died in 1501, while yet a 
young man, leaving no issue. The estate then reverted to the grand- 
children of Lady Isabelle de Vere, a sister of Lord Henry .^ None of the 
beheaded Sir Henry's line remained to bear the name of Greene, save 
the line of his son Thomas'^ alone. From him came the Gillin^ham 
Greenes, and from these again, came the Warwick and Quidnessett Greenes, 
two of the most important lines of that name in America. I have there- 
fore taken pains to get all possible facts relating to the line of Thomas.* f 

Between Thomas* and Robert" of Gillingham, two generations in- 
tervene. The name of the 9th of this line has not been preserved. This 
does not weaken the chain of descent. Henrv K. Elliott, the English 
genealogist, whose ancestors for 300 years have lived at Greene's Norton, 
savs the Gillingham Greenes have always been recognized as of the beheaded 
Sir Henry's line through his son Thomas.* This is confirmed through the 
absolute testimony of the Herald's Visitation, some of which are yet pre- 
served. Henry VIII, in 1528, commissioned provincial Kings-of-arms 
to visit the different shires of England, and enroll all who could show their 
full pedigree and their right to wear coats-of-arms. Every 25 or 30 years 
this Visitation was repeated, and the enrollment registered, until 1686. The 
Gillinghams, being officially certified as entitled to bear the arms of Sir 

* Halstead gives the l<inj^ petition in mingled Latin and Norman French, in which Ralph Greene 
prays Parliament and the King to restore him his father's estates, which the King, in his first anger, 
seems to have confiscated. It begins: 

" Petitionis Radulphi Greene in Parliamento, Henrious Dei gratia Rex Angliae & 
Franciae & Domiiius Hiberniae, omnibus ad quos praesentes Siterae pervenerint, Salutem: 

Inspeximus tenorem cnjusdam Petitionis Nobis in ultimo Parliamento nostro apud 
Westmonasterium tento per Radulphum Greene exhibitae in haeo verba: Tres-excellent & tres-redoute 
Siegnour, nostro Siegnour le Roy, suiiplie tres-humblement vostre humble liege Rauf Greene Esquire, 
que come en Fan primer do vostre gratiouse Regne le avantdie Rauf," etc., etc. 

+ I was fortunate enough to secure the aid of Henry K. Elliott, a scholarly English antiquarian. 
His family have for 300 years lived at Greene's Norton, the faniiiy scat of the Lords Greene. He himself 
resides in the Chantry House, Avhich was built more than 400 years ago by Dame Maud Greene. He has 
recently completed a genealogy that necessitated a thorough and special search of all the records of the 
County of Northampton, England, and was therefore well calculated to undertake the English Greene 
researches. He examined and copied i-ecords. wills, subsidy rolls and Herald's Visitation lists for us 
He looked wp in particular all that could bear upon the pedigree of John Greene of Quidnessett, E. I„ a 
weak link in whose chain of ancestry had hitherto baffled all searchers. The documentary evidence he 
found, confirmed and emphasized by the American records, make this pedigree clear. Mr, Elliott sent 
me no less than eight chart pedigrees, each 13 by 16 inches in size, that listed the Greenes of this line in 
their generations, at Boughton, Greene's Norton, Gillingham, Drayton and Orpidell, in Northampshire, 
Dorsetsliire and Hampshire, England. 



34 ^^^ 6recne faintlv> 

Henry Greene of Drayton, did at that time possess ample proofs of that 
fact, and so exhibited them to the King-at arms. This silences all cavil. 

It is not strange that the name of the son of Thomas was 
lost. He was born about 1420, and came to manhood in the middle of the 
Bloody Century. Hume, speaking of the War of the Roses, says this: 
'* No part of English history since the Conquest, [1066,] is so obscure, so 
uncertain, so little authentic or consistent, as that of the War between 
the two Roses. All we can discover with certainty through the dark cloud 
that covers this period is a scene of horror and blood-shed, savage wars, 
and treacherous, dishonorable conduct in all parties." 

His son is supposed to have been born about 1450. This son was 
John.^'^ The signs of cadency, i.e., descent of sons in order of birth, began 
to be added to coats-of-arms in the reign of Henry VII, 1485 to 1509. Even 
then cadency insignia were only used when the head of a line was a well- 
known man, prominent enough to found a new branch of the family. As 
John's sons added to the Greene coat-of-arms a crescent, the sign of a second 
son, we know two things; (i) John was the next-to-the-oldest son; and (2) he 
was a man of prominence in his day. The last is borne out by other 
facts, patent enough to those who take historv as they find it. Those who 
are never willing to own their ascestors could do wrong, will of course try 
to think these incidents refer to some other John Greene. 

The Greene pefichant for athletics, fostered by the atmosphere of war 
in which he was born and brought up, made John''' a most skillful sword- 
player, who could parr}-, feint and thrust, and perform the most astonish- 
ing feats with his trusty blade. Tradition says he had no superior in the 
use of the sword in the kingdom. He was a Yorkist, and for the Yorkist 
king, right or wrong, first, last and all the time. 

In July, 1483, Richard III, one of the wickedest of England's several 
wicked kings, was crowned King, though his two nephews had the first right 
to the crown. He feared an uprising to place these princes on the throne, and. 
therefore shut them up in the tower of London, and made Sir Robert Brack- 
enbury their keeper. Toward the end of this same month, July, 1483, he 
and the queen came in state to the Earl of Warwick's and were his guests 
for a week at the Earl's mao-nificent castle at Warwick. It was but a few 
miles from the home of the Greenes, and John''' made haste to tender his 
homage, for Richard, though mean, false, cruel and blood-thirsty, was }-et of 
the House of York, and a crowned king. 

The King had some dirty work to do. He sized up this cool, nervy, 
daring man, ready to give life or take it at his sovereign's command. The 
King himself sent him to Sir Robert Brackenbury, nearly a hundred miles 
away. " To him," says Dickens, " by the hands of a messenger named John 



Zbe (Brccne family 35 



Greene, did King Richard send a letter, ' ordering him to put the two princes 
to death.' But Sir Robert sent John Greene back again, riding and spurring 
along the dusty roads, with the answer that he would not do so horrible a 
piece of work." The curtain falls on the too-faithful messenger there. The 
very next month King Richard found some one less scrupulous, who mur- 
dered the two lads for him. But the foul deed did not shake John's allegi- 
ance to this murderous kino-. 

Two years later Richard III was slain in battle. Henry, the head of 
the House of Lancaster, married Elizabeth, the heiress of the House of York, 
and the War of Roses came forever to an end. Henry VH hated the York- 
ists so heartily that he treated his own queen like a brute, because she was 
of York blood. He held a grudge against all who had rendered King Rich- 
ard HI, his former rival, a service. He had a spite against the family of 
Greene, a few years later arresting, as we know, Lord Thomas Greene at the 
very brink of the grave, on the charge of plotting treason. It would natur- 
ally be supposed that John Greene^'^ would lose no time putting the seas be- 
tween himself and the revengeful king. This is exactly what family tradi- 
tion represents him as having done. 

The Gillingham Greenes who came to America had this story, one 
from his father, and the other from his grandfather, who had been told it by 
//lei'r grandfather, Robert", own son of the mari of whom the tradition is 
about. John Greene of Warwick, R. I., handed down no more than a refer- 
ence to a change of name. His second cousin, John Greene of Quidnessett, 
handed down much more of the tradition. Being the namesake of his 
great-grandfather, John, who in turn was the namesake of /it's grandfather, 
the John of the story, his pride in the name gave him a special interest in 
the tradition. After his death his descendants adhered to the gist of the 
story, but transposed the names, and shifted the time and country to fit one 
of their first American ancestors, Lieutenant John of Quidnessett, whom they 
called John of London. This is a common thing in family traditions and 
what any genealogist would expect. 

The Rhode Island version is that their ancestor was named John Clarke, 
and was one of the Regicide Judges who condemned King Charles I to death 
in 1649, 3^^ had to flee for his life when Charles II was restored to the throne 
in 1660. Then he came to Boston under the name of John Greene. One 
day he joined a game of sword-play, and performed some marvelous feats. 
Finally, he gave his sword a fling that sent it swirling in the air, from which 
it dropped, piercing and cleaving a loaf of bread to the center as it descend- 
ed. Some one spoke up, " That is John Clarke, Judge Whaley, or the Devil, 
for no one else could do that ! " Fearing he was discovered, Clarke alms 
Greene, fled into R. I. Here he married Abigail W^ardwell, and here he died. 



36 ^be 6rcenc famtlp 

This is a very pretty story, but absolutely without a leg to stand on, if 
applied to either John Greene of Ouidnessett, or his son, Lieut. John. The 
records show that the elder John resided continuously in R. I. for 59 years, 
from 1636 to 1695. He would have been a stripling of jS when he married 
19-year old Abigail Wardwell, and would have raised a family of 11 children 
after that, dying in 1729 at 123 years old ! The story is as impossible if ap- 
plied to his son, Lieutenant John^, born in 1645, ^^^ therefore but foil}' years 
old when King Charles was beheaded, and could scarcely have had a hand 
in sentencing him to death ! 

But taking the story as it should be, back to the days of John Greene,^" 
the tradition throws a real light on affairs. John fled from King Henry 
to Europe. Homesick for England and family, he ventured back to an 
English city in which he was a stranger, and passed as John Clarke. 
Here he could see his family occasionally. Becoming less cautious, as 
he was not discovered, he was drawn into a bout with swords, and his 
identity guessed from his previous fame in that direction. Again he 
fled, and remained abroad until the death of the king. 

A son of John the Fugitive was Robert Greene, Gentleman. He 
purchased an estate at Gillingham, in Dorsetshire, which was called Bow- 
ridge Hill. On the old records it is usually spoken of as Porridge Hill, 
the local prononciation of Bowridge Hill. His wife's name is unknown. 
Whoever she was, it is believed that by her came that extraordinary mathemat- 
ical ability that has made the majority of her descendants "quick in 
figures," as we usually express it, and has every now and then since her day 
cropped out in one of those phenomenal cases of instantaneous calculators. 

Most of the subsidy rolls of that century have been destroyed. In the 
one of 1543,* Robert Greene" of Gillingham is listed. He was then 
an elderly man with grand-children. He had five children, Peter, 
Richard, John, Alice and Anne.f Peter died without heirs, and Richard 
inherited the estate. From Richard^"'s line came Surgeon John Greene," 
the head of the Warwick Greenes, and from the only other son, John, came 
John of Ouidnessett,^'^ the head of a numerous Rhode Island family of 



* A ciuotation fi'um this Subsidy Eoll of isiy is given to sliow the remarlcaVile spelling of tliis period: 
"In thys Cedule indentyd is conteignyd as well as ye iiamys of a!l and ev'y p'son and r'sons havyng 
landis to ye yerly valeu of xlti or above, as also goods to ye valeu of xlti or above & also ye sumes 
pytchlerly set oute uppon ev'y off ther seyd namys dew to our Soverenge Lorde the King for ye fyrst of 
ye four yerj-s sbsyde [subsidy] grantyd unto hys hygr.es in ye last P'lymet, [Parliament.] " 

t An old English custom was to give a child one name, then call it another. Thus Mary became Pol- 
ly, Matilda became Maud, and Anne became Nancy. The Gillingham Greenes had a diminutive of their 
own for the name of Anne. They called all their Annes— and they were partial to the name— by the 
soubriqiiet of Welthian, or Wealthy Ann. The two cousins who came to the Colonies named their daugh- 
ters Welthian without circumlocution about it- Among the tens of thousands of names found in the re- 
cords of New England tor the 123 years after its first settlement, we have found not a Welthian outside of 
these two families. With them it is common. 



abe 6rccne jfanul^ 37 



Greenes. As these two were all of this family who came to the Col- 
onies, we shall not attempt to give a full list of those who remained 
in England. 

Richard^^ left a son Richard^'^ and a daughter. Richard^'^ and wife 
Mary had five sons and four daughters. Of these the fourth son was Sur- 
geon John Greene". In most American genealogies he is called the son of 
Peter Greene of Aukley Hall. This is a mistake. Peter was his oldest 
brother, the heir to Bowridge Hall. 

John^-, of Robert", died in 1560. He had three sons, Robert^^ of Lang- 
ham, Jeremy of Gillingham, and Henry''^, who seems to have lived at some 
distance from the old home. Henry "died suddenly," as the parish records 
puts it, Aug. 22nd, 1578. He had certainly a son,' "Thomas of Wyke," and 
a son Robert. This Robert" had a son John^^born in 1606, who came to the 
New World 1635, and is known to us as John Greene of Quidnessett. 



CHAPTER VI 

EMIGRATION OF THE GREENES TO THE COLONIES, 1619-4O 



" The Puritans to many seem mere savage iconoclasts, fierce destroyers of forms ; 
but it were more just to call them haters of untrite forms. Poor Laud seems tc me to 
have been weak and ill-staried, not dishonest ; an unfortunate pedant, rather than any- 
thing worse. . . . Like a weak man, he drives with spasmodic fury toward his pur- 
pose ; cramps himself to it, heeding no voice, no cry of pity Alas, was not his 

doom stern enough ? Whatever wrongs he did, were they not all frightfully avenged 
on him?" — Carlvle. 



The three periods of emigration prior to 16 jO. Early Virginia and Barbadoes settlers. 
New England a magnet. Laud and King Charles I and their tyrannies. The three 
classes of Greenes that cajue to Massachusetts. Line of Ruling Elder fohn Greene. 
The Greenes of tmknown descent. The two Gillingham Greenes who founded the 
two famous lines of Rhode Island Greenes. The great emigratioti of 16 J^. Arch- 
bishop Laud. 

The Forefathers are those emigrants who came to the American Colo- 
nies before 1650. From the first Colonization to Cromwell's day, all emi- 
gration may be divided into three distinct periods : The early Virginia set- 
tlements on the James River, the first of all ; the coming of the Pilgrim 
Fathers to Massachusetts 1620-31, and the emigration of anti-Laud men, 
the influx of which was at its greatest in the year 1635. 

The first of these periods was dominated by a spirit of adventure. The 
new world was pictured as Indian inhabited and wild beast infested, but in 
all other respects a paradise. The early Virginians were men who loved 
adventure, and were seeking quick wealth. The claims of religion rested 
very lightly upon them indeed. 

The illusion of tropical forests and rivers with sands of gold, 
was pretty well over with by the time of the Pilgrim Fathers' day. 
New England's bleak coasts were settled by a stern, stout-hearted class 
that had come for refuge, not for gain, that they might worship God after 
the dictates of their own consciences. We may shrug our shoulders at the 



Zbc 6reene yamilp 



sternness of their religion; we may deprecate their narrow bigotry; we may 
ridicule their prim, stiff ways, and their cheese-paring stinginess; we 
may make the most we can of their persecutions of the Baptists and 
Quakers, and of their hanging witches. The fact remains that we owe 
them a debt we can never repay. Their industry, honesty, and hard good 
sense, their positive religious convictions and unflinching adherence to what 
they thought right, has laid the foundations of our nation's greatness. 

The colonists who crossed the ocean to escape Laud's tyrannies 
were almost to a man Independents or Puritans in religion. It was practic- 
ally from their ranks that the Quakers and Anabaptists were afterwards 
drawn. They were men of a rugged, religious type, ready to lay down their 
lives for what they esteemed the truth. 

The pioneer Greene in America appears to have been Solomon Greene, 
aged 27, who came to Virginia in 1618. By 1623 there were living in the 
James River settlements this same Solomon and five others, three of whom 
died within a year. From the survivors, Solomon, Robert and John, with 
Alexander and Roger who came in 1635, the Southern Greenes descend. 
Beside these who are named, ten others came from England in 1635, 
but settled in the Barbadoes, in the West Indies. Most of these Greenes 
became rich sugar planters and extensive slave owners. All of the other 
early Greenes I have been able to trace, belong in New England. 

The New England Greenes may be divded into three groups, (i) those 
of the Ruling Elder John Greene line; (2) the Gillingham Greenes; and (3) 
those whose ancestry is unknown. 

Ruling Elder John Greene came to Charlestown, ]\Iass., in 1632. His wife 
was Perseverance, the daughter of a noted Puritan minister, the Rev. Francis 
Johnson. Elder Greene was 39. years of age at that time, and was accom- 
panied by his wife, daughter, his two sons, John and Jacob, and Joseph 
Greene, a relative. A little later the Elder's kinsman, Bartholomew Greene, 
and family, came and settled in Boston. His two sons were Nathaniel and 
Samuel. This Samuel, in 1648, succeeded Samuel Day in business, thus 
becoming the second printer in all America. From his famous press were 
issued the Bible, Baxter's Call, the Colonial Laws, and Eliot's celebrated 
work on the Indian lansruasfe. Hs became the head of a line that in all its 
generations has furnished an unusual number of editors and printers. Two 
or three of his descendants did the first printing in their respective states. 
Thomas Greene, senior, and Thomas Greene, junior, of ISIalden, were of the 
Elder John Greene branch also. 

This line of Greenes have for a crest, the green, or British woodjDecker, 
pecking at a tree trunk. See the close of Chapter II. This coat-of-arms 
shows them to have descended from one of the younger sons or grandsons of 



40 Zbc (Breene ffanitlp 

L,ord Alexander de Greene de Boketon, who became the first Lord de 
Greene, in 1202. 

There were two of the Gillingham Greenes, second cousins to each 
other, and each named John. Their liistory is sketched in the next chapters. 

The forefather Greenes of unknown descent are these : James and Wil- 
liam of Charlestown ; Robert of Hingham ; Rev. Henry of Reading ; Henry 
of Watertown, who was probably identical with Henry of Essex ; Percival 
of Cambridge ; Ralph of Boston ; and Thomas of Ipswich, who may be the 
same as Thomas, Junior, of ]\Ialden. Beside these were two John Greenes 
that died bachelors. 

Of these forefathers. Elder John, Bartholomew and James Greene, with 
their families, came to Massachusetts by 1634. Rev. Henry Greene proba- 
bly came about 1639 or 1640. All of the others came in 1635, the famous 
year of general Nonconformist emigration.* The conscientious husbands 
and fathers were more willing for their families to endure the hardships of a 
new country and rigorous climate, and face perils from Indians, than to re- 
main in their own land, where religious persecution was already rife, and 
the muttering of approaching ci\'il war was heard. 

The Puritans, or Nonconformists,or Independents, as they are various- 
ly styled, had been frowned upon by every English monarch, Catholic or 
Protestant. They were radicals, keen of tongue, interpreting the Bible for 
themselves, and standing in little awe of either bishop or king. Elizabeth, 
the good Queen Bess of old song, burned a few of them for their obstinacy, 
punishing them quite as much for the_fuss they made about ministers wear- 
ing a surplice or robe, or to making the sign of the cross, or to bowing at 
the name of Jesus, as for their alleged heresy. 

James I thought himself quite a saint. This did not hinder him from 
making things so unpleasant for the Nonconformists that many of them 
went to Holland, and later, in the Mayflower and Ann, to New England. 
There was no improvement under Charles I, the next king. 

Charles I hated the Puritans. He said it was because of their long 
faces and doleful Psalm singing. " INIore probably it was because they were 
radicals and mal-contents in politics, and he was a king who rode straight 
over law. For seventeen years he refused to call a Parliament ; but at his 
own pleasure, and by his own might, imposed unlawful taxes, and levied 
ship money and subsidies that were no better than blackmail or robbery. 



* The government became so alarmed by this wholesale emigration, that for several years they re- 
strained their subjects from leaving. In 1637, eight ships were about to start, when they were forcibly de- 
tained. Oliver Cromwell was one of the passengers who would have gone to America, had the ship sail- 
ed. It would have been better for Charles, and the head on his kingly shoulders, had he permitted that 
ship to have gone upon its way. 



Zbe (Breene famtip 41 



His chief counselor was Archbishop Laud, who practically was Premier of 
England, and ruled the land. The old saying was, " It is L,aud here, Laud 
there, and Laud everywhere." Charles' court-fool solemnly asked grace at 
the King's table one day, and brought over in his petition, " Great Laud 
and little Devil." * 

The all-powerful Laud hated the Puritans even worse than did 
the king. Charles had to be a Protestant, because he was the head of 
a Protestant nation. Laud had to be a Protestant also, because he was 
the king's nearest adviser. What sort of a one he was is shown by 
the Pope offering to make him a cardinal. And really poor Laud meant ^^ 
be extremely good. Being a narrow-minded man, or as Dickens lOUS 
" Of great learning and little sense," he could only be good in his owd 
narrow way. He delighted in tinkling of bells and the burning of candles 
about the altar, in clouds of incense, and in much bowing and genuflection. 
He ordered those things to be done in every church. 

One Puritan divine boldly said from his pulpit, that this was all 
trumpery and there was no authority in the Scriptures for bishops, anyway. 
For this speech. Laud had this minister's nose slit, his cheek branded, 
both ears cut off, fined 5000 pounds (nearly $25,000), and then imprisoned for 
life. Several others were handled almost as roughly. As for the lesser 
offenders, there were ears cut off, noses slit, and unmerciful whippings 
administered without number. 

Small wonder our fathers thought Indians less savage than Laud ! 



*If pronounced slurringly. Lord has the sound of Laud. The Archbishop was short of statue, hence 
the force of the allusion. The poor fool was well whipped for his pains. 



CHAPTER VII 

FOLLOWING ROGER WILLIAMS INTO THE WILDERNESS 

the y 

'" And my God put it into my lieart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and 

fV,- the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of them 

which came up at the first, and found written therein. 

Nehemiah VII. Verse ^. 

Intolerance of the Pilgrim. Fathers. Instafice of Rev. Clarke's trial and of the hanging 
of the Quakers. Roger Williams. His banishtnent. The first Baptist church in 
America. Some of its first me??ibers. The present church building of the historic 
First Church of Providence. The three fohn Greenes ivho settled in R. 1. 

The Pilgrim Fathers came to Massachusetts that they might have re- 
ligious freedom, but it was their own freedom they sought and not other 
men's. It was not a tolerant age. Catholic, Established Church, Presby- 
terian or Puritan, whoever had the upper hand tried to compel every other 
person to come to his way and his mode of thinking. 

It was an age when religious topics were daily discussed ; when religion 
was more than art, education, or politics ; when received orthodox tenets 
were so rigidly insisted upon that not so much as a hair's breadth of disbe- 
lief in them would be put up with, and when such a thing as every man 
choosing a belief for himself was a thing unknown. There was the Catholic 
religion on the one hand, the Protestant on the other, and the Protestants 
were almost as undivided as the Catholics. There was no such thing known 
as Methodist, Universalist, Unitarian, Disciples, or Evangelical Churches. 
Those who liked a good deal of formality in church services belonged to the 
Established Church, or as we say now, to the Episcopalians. Those who 
believed in simplicity of service, but were strong as to their creed, were In- 
dependents or Puritans, corresponding to the Presbyterians and Congrega- 
tionals of to-day. 

Our forefathers were honest, upright men, but they could see no use of 
more modes of religious thinking than these. As they saw it there was ab- 

42 



Cbe Greene JFaniilp 43 



solutely no room for any other sect, and if any other tried to make a place 
for itself, it was of a surety of the Evil One. Just at this time the Baptists 
were struggling for a foothold, and the Friends or Quakers had also come 
into existence. We smile at these two tried and worthy Christian hosts being 
regarded as of Satan ; but in that day their doctrines were considered rank 
heresy. Nay, they were thought absolutely blasphemous, so utterly vile and 
misleading that they needed putting down with a strong hand. 

This is well illustrated by the trial of Rev. John Clarke in 1651. He 
was the Baptist minister at Newport, R. I. While on a visit at Lynn, Mass., 
he preached at a friend's house, at this friend's request. Before the sermon 
was ended two constables arrested him and two of his friends as " erroneous 
persons." They were taken to Boston for trial, and the charge entered 
against them of being Antipedobaptists. If anyone wants to know the mean- 
ing of that word, I refer him or her to Rev. Increase IMather's lucid defini- 
tion of it more than two hundred years ago, thus : 

" j\ntipedobaptism is a blasted error." 

At the trial Governor John Endicott asked them if the charge was true. 
Whereupon the Rev. Mr. Clarke made use of this language: " I am neither 
an Anabaptist, nor a Pedobaptist, nor a Cataba'ptist; and though I have bap- 
tized many, I have never re-baptized any, for infant baptism is a nullity." 

Rev. John Cotton preached a sermon on this answer. He declared the 
Rev. Clarke ought to be hung, because he preached doctrine that made him 
a soul nnirderer. Governor Endicott was more lenient. 

" You deserve to die," said the Governor sternly. Then he imposed a 
mild (?) sentence upo'n them. All were to be whipped, and fined from five 
to thirty pounds each. The clergyman was finally let off without the whip- 
ping,* but elder Obadiah Holmes, one of his companions, received thirty 
lashes on the bare back from a 3-cord whip, and for several days had to lie on 
his face, as his back was one great sore. 

A few years later three Quaker preachers were hung in Boston as " pes- 
tilent heretics." One of them was Mary Dyer, a woman of 36, and of a blame- 
less life. But as the authorities thought no woman had a right to preach, 
they hung her higher than the men, that she might be a spectacle to Heaven, 
angels and men. Things like these teach us the temper of these good but 
mistaken men, who thought they were doing God-service by putting down 
all that they considered heresy. 

No clerg\'man was allowed to have a copy of Shakespear in his library. 

* Partou says that some unknown person paid Eev. Clarke's fine without the clergyman's knowl- 
edge. A personal friend became security for John Ci-andall, so that Holmes alone was whipped. Some 
additional particulars are given in Chapter XX. 



/ 



44 ^be Greene jfamil^ 

No one was allowed to preach who did not heartily expound the gospel ac- 
cording to the received standard. No one was allowed to carry fire-arms, or to 
vote, or to hold the commonest office, unless he was a church member. One 
of the author's ancestors, William Wardwell, had his fire-arms taken from 
him, because he was believed to be tainted with the heresy of the Rev. Air. 
Wheelwright, who had just been banished. 

We must keep in mind their point of view, and how deep their feeling 
was in this matter, to understand the persecution of Roger W^illiams and his 
followers that arose 1 631-1636. 

Roger Williams was a remarkable man. He was magnetic, drawing 
converts to his views, wherever he went. He was a born leader, a quick 
thinker, a persuasive speaker, a man of enthusiasm, daring and originality, 
and a man who took up new thoughts, and new ways of doing things. He 
not only planned, but he carried out his plans. Some hold that he has been 
over-rated, that he was more brilliant than deep, and that in a religious sense 
he was everything by turns and nothing long. If all this be true, it must 
yet be conceded that he fills a greater space in history than any other man 
of the Colonies in a hundred years. He drew the best brain and blood of 
New England to Rhode Island, and when jMassachusetts began to lord it 
over Rhode Island, Williams sailed to England and obtained a charter that 
put the younger colony in charge of its own affairs, and allowed a degree of 
religious liberty beyond anything ever known before. 

Roger Williams was of Welsh descent, and was educated at Pembroke 
College. Afterwards he was the protege of Chief-Justice Sir Edward Coke, 
and from this great lawyer got his ideas of law and government. He was an 
exceptional linguist, a Greek, Hebrew and Latin scholar, and spoke and 
wrote English, Dutch, French and German. In America he soon added the 
Indian tongue to his other attainments. 

Williams was ordained a clergyman of the Church of England. He 
soon developed Puritan views, and came to the Colonies, though he said it 
was " as bitter as death " to him to leave England. By the time his six- 
weeks sea voyage was over he was a Separatist or extreme Puritan. He ar- 
rived at Boston with his wife Mary, Feb. 5, 1631. He settled at Salem, only 
to be driven away. Then he v/as two years at Plymouth, returning to Salem 
again at the end of this time. Here, in 1634, there was erected for him a 
frame church, the oldest church edifice in America that is yet standing. 
The authorities thought he preached heresy. He certainly told his hearers 
in so many words that they had no right to take the Indians' land without 
paying for it, and that the magistrates had no right to dictate to men's con- 
sciences. This was more than the authorities would stand, and in October, 
1635, they gave him a certain length of time to leave the colony. 



^be Greene ffanulp 45 

Many of the Salem Church followed him into the unbroken wilderness 
of Rhode Island. In June, 1636, the colony was planted at Providence on 
the shore of Narragansett Bay. Everything was done systematically. The 
land was purchased from the Indians, and a compact was drawn up and 
signed, remarkable for its simplicity, and for the absolute liberty accorded to 
all. Here he preached for two years. Then another change of his religious 
views followed. He became a Baptist, and was persuaded that immersion 
was the only lawful baptism. In all New England there was not a clergy- 
man that had been immersed. However, a little band of his closest followers 
met, twelve in all, including- Roger Williams himself. Ezekiel Holyman or 
Holliman, (it is spelled both ways,) was chosen to baptize Williams. Then 
Williams baptized the other eleven. This strange proceeding was first 
reported by Governor Winthrop in his journal under date of March i6> 
1639, and this was long thought to be the correct date. It is now known 
that it was really late in the autumn of 1638. 

The old church records have been lost, and the names of only ten of the 
twelve constituent members of this first Baptist church in America have 
been preserved. The descendants of Surgeon John Greene are confident that 
he and his wife are the two missing members. So familv tradition has it. 
Some of the other names have an interest to Greene descendants. Amonsf 
them are Ezekiel Holyman and wife. Ezekiel Holyman's wife came to 
Providence in 1636 as Mrs. Sweet. Her husband died soon after, leaving 
two small sons, James and John. Then Mrs. Sweet married Mr. Holyman. 
Her son James, when grown, married Surgeon John Greene's youngest child, 
Mary. She inherited her father's skill and passed it on to her descendants, 
the celebrated " Bone-setting Sweets." 

Two others of this original little band became ancestors of a large line 
of descendants who afterwards intermarried with the Greenes. These were 
a young couple, Stukeley Westcott and wife, who was Rosanna Hill before 
her marriage. This re-baptism of adults vv^ho had been previously baptized 
by sprinkling, gave great offense to the home church in Massachusetts, when 
they heard of it. The Salem church excommunicated the eight re-baptized 
members that had belonged to them. Mary Sweet-Holyman, and Stukeley 
Westcott and wife were among the number. 

Dr. Henry M. King, the present pastor of this historic First Baptist 
Church at Providence, says of this church : "A church born in loneliness 
and exile, but born in the spirit of God, to human view self originated, and 
without lineal descent or pedigree, untouched by priestly hands, unanointed 

by apostolic grace, and yet a church of Jesus Christ came into being 

It was a ver}' simple affair. There was no creed but the scriptures, and no 
ritual but the spontaneous offering of prayer, and the familiar unfolding of 



46 Zbc Greene family 

the word of truth. They were still possibly unsettled in their religious 
opinions, and far from unanimous Roger Williams became a high- 
church Baptist, and distrusted the validity of his own ordination and bap- 
tism. The little church survived the withdrawal of the minister, and grad- 
uallv increased." 

In after years the Warwick Greenes and the Westcotts became exceed- 
ingly proud of their foreparents having been of the " first " Baptist church 
in the Western Hemisphere, and bragged more about it than was really be- 
coming, perhaps. Those who think the whole affair irregular, claim the real 
first Baptist church was at Newport, of which the Rev. John Clarke became 
the first pastor in 1644.* The Providence church is generally accorded that 
honor. In 1775, the year before the Revolutionary war commenced, the 
third church building of this church was erected, and is being used to-day. 
The first bell, made for it in London, weighed 2515 pounds, and had on it a 
quaint inscription : 

"For freedom of conscience the town was first planted. 
Persuasion, not force, was used by the people ; 
This Church is the eldest, and has not recanted, 
Enjoying and granting bell, temple and steeple." 

It is a peculiar circumstance that Mr. J. F. Greene, one of the Church's 
present officers, is a lineal descendant of Surgeon John Greene and his wife 
who their descendants believe were two of the original twelve members. 

Other towns and communities sprang up. The Quakers and the follow- 
ers of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson were banished to Rhode Island, then known as 
Providence Plantations. By 1650 the Waites, Anthonys, Wardwells and Pierces, 
with whom the Greenes largely intermarried, were residents of the liberty- 
loving colony. Of the Greenes themselves there were three adult men. These 
all came about the same time, in the very earliest day of the colony. Each was 
named John, and two of these three had wives named Joan. These three men 
were John of Newport, Surgeon John of Warwick and John of Quidnessett. 

John of Newport's line yet continues. His family was never as exten- 
sive as the others, and kept to their own part of the country pretty well. So 
far as I have been able to trace them, his posterity did not intermarry with 
the other Greenes of Rhode Island at all. The other John Greenes were of the 
English Gillingham branch and were second cousins-german to each other, f 

* " Possibly in KU. This is the traditional date of the origin of the church. There is no historic re- 
cord rrior to 1648." 

Note by Henry M. King, D.D. pastor of the First Baptist Church at Providence, and an authority upon 
early Baptist history- 

t The younger John's father was second cousin to Surgeon John, which would make the younger John 
third cousin to the Sui-geon's children. He was of course more nearly related to the father than to the 
children, to whom he was mid-way between a second and third cousin, or as genealogists phrase it, a 
second cousin-german. Gorman here denotes not nationality, but degree of relationship. 




FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF PROVIDENCE, R. I. 

Oldest Baptist organization in the Western Hemisphere. Estab- 
lished 1638 b}' Roger Williams. Present edifice erected 1775. 



(Xbe (3rcenc family 47 



The older cousin was variously called John Senior, John the Elder, John 
of Salisbury, Chirurgeon John and Surgeon John, John of Providence and 
John of Warwick. In these pages he is spoken of as Surgeon John of War- 
wi::k. Various dates have been given of his birth. His direct descendant, 
Henry Lehre Greene, v^^ho has studied the matter carefully, puts the date at 
15S5. He was born at Bowridge Hall, Gillingham, England, and was the 

> younger son of Richard Greene, Gentleman, and ]\Iary his wife. He was some- 
thing of a bachelor when on November 4, 161 9, he married Joan Tattersall, 
(or Joane Tatarsole, as the old records have it,) at St. Thomas' Church, Salis- 
bury, England.* His home was at Aukley Hall, Salisbury. He was too 
strong an anti-Laud man to make it safe for him in England, so with his wife 
and five children, he set sail from Southampton in April, 1635, in the good 
ship James, and arrived at Boston, May 3, of the same year. He lived for a time 
at Salem and was among the first who followed Roger Williams to Provi- 

' dence. The latter showed his confidence in him by making him one of the 
trustees to whom Providence was deeded. 

The younger cousin is spoken of as John Greene the Younger, John of 
London, John of Wickford and John of Ouidnessett. In this history he is 
always John of Quidnessett. He was Dorn m England in 1606, and resided 
at or near London; probably his home was at Enfield, one of the suburb towns 
of the great city. He was a man given to commemorating family events by 
the names of his children. Thus a son was John Clarke, the very name as- 
sumed by his ancestor, John the Fugitive, 166 years before. A daughter 
was Enfield, a most singular name for a girl, but understandable if given in 
honor of the dear old Eno;lish home. 

John of Ouidnessett left England in the ship Matthew, early in 1635. 
He was at that time 29. He went first to St. Christopher, one of the British 
West Indies. This tropical island was a capital place at that time to make 
wealth. But its population was a Godless set, and John had too much of 
the Puritan about him to relish such companionship. He sailed therefore 
for Massachusetts, and from there passed to R. I. In 1637 we find him with 
Richard Smith, the Indian trader, at Aquidneck or Quidnessett, on Narra- 
gansett Bay. He lived for some years in Smith's family, in the Block 
House, or family fort. Here Roger Williams was a frequent visitor. Here 
Richard Smith gave free lodofine and entertainment to all travelers, and here 
he opened up a trading post with the Indians, John Greene assisting him. 
When about 36 years of age John of Quidnessett married a young widow. 
Of his children and history the next chapter will tell. 

* The St. Thomas Church records are interesting. They give the baptism of "ye sonnes and daughters 
of Mr, John Greene and Mris. Joane Greene." "Mris." is an old abbreviation of Mistress.our present Mrs. 
Jehu Greene is variously described as " Gentleman " and " Cliirurgeon." 



CHAPTER VIII 

EARLY R. I. HISTORY TO DEATH OF SURGEON JOHN OF WARWICK. 1 636- 1 659 

The first Greenes of Rhode Ishind. Rese?nblance of character betiveen Surgeon John of 
Warimck and fohn of Quidnessett. Honors that fell to the Warwick line. Early 
days of Providence. The wrangle with the JMassachusetts authorities. Arrest of 
Surgeo7i fohn in Boston. The Massachusetts veruon of the affair. Settle?nent of 
Shatvomet, afterivards Warivick. Death of illrs. foa7i Gi eene among the Indians. 
Wholesale arrests. Surgeon foh7i in Lofidoft. His last days. 



Rhode Island might better have been named the State of Greene. It is 
said to not be safe to speak evil of any man in the State, for if not a Greene, 
he is liable to be of kin to them. Rhode Island is the one state where the 
Smiths, Browns and Johnsons are outnumbered. There are more Greenes 
in the State than of any other name whatever, and the}- lia\-e enjoyed more 
state and civic honors than any other family within her borders. 

The Mississippi, as its headwaters flow from Lake Itaska, is but a small 
stream. It gathers momentum as it descends, and becomes a might}' torrent 
ere it empties into the ocean. So the stream of descent for this numerous 
family, great as it is, has its rise in the triple father fountains, the three John 
Greenes of Rhode Island. 

The early records are by no means complete. Knowing this, many 
take it for granted that the first hundred years of R. I. history nuist be con- 
fused and tangled as to the Greenes, as each of the stem-fathers had the same 
name. Others suppose that other Greenes came to R. I. in an early day, 
and that their descendants are mixed up with the others. I have made a 
careful and special study on this very subject. I state emphatically, (i )that 
up to the year 1700 there is no record, tradition or trace of any stem-father 
by the name of Greene, other than these three Johns. (2) There is no con- 
fusion whatever, up to the same year, A. D. 1700. After that there is, in 
some cases. But to that time, every son or daughter of that house may be 
readily and correctly placed among the descendants of the particular John 



to whom he or she belonged. 



48 



Zbc (Breene Janiil^ 49 

John of Newport's children have been the least numerous. They kept 
to their own part of the state and did not intermarry with the others. Sur- 
geon John moved to Warwick before any of his children married, and for a 
lono- time his descendants lived almost exclusivelv at Warwick and East 

o - 

Greenwich. John of Ouidnessett's line lived at Kingstown, now Wickford, 
Westerly, Charleston, Coventry, and West Greenwich quite as commonly. 
I repeat that no one need fear that any of the early generations are assigned 
to the line of the wrong John. It has been easier to get the first century's 
links of descent accurate than those of a later date, when the families began 
to scatter. 

John of Newport passes at once from this narrative, as no incidents are 
recorded of his history. The other Johns were both leaders, both prominent 
men, and there is a great deal in the records about them. They showed a 
resemblance in their traits. No doubt they were good and able men, and 
left a record their descendants are justly proud of. But they were not saints. 
They were both positive, aggressive, stand-on-the-defensive men. Their 
fighting armor was ever on. In fact, the}- were two typical Englishmen, 
that could neither be scared nor driven, and were on general principles not 
averse to a scrap now and then. 

Both men were prominent. Of the two. Surgeon John of Warwick's 
fame is the greater. He was a generation older than the younger John, and 
the more naturally selected as a representative of the Providence Plantations* 
to cross the ocean and lay their side of the controversy with Massachusetts 
before the English authorities. In England he became the best known man 
of the Colony, with the exception of Roger Williams. Naturally official 
favor was shown to both him and his sons. 

Of the Surgeon's three sons who lived to be middle-aged, all three were 
at various times Assistant President of the Colony. The oldest son, whose 
name was also John, held office from the Crown for forty-nine years, having 
been Recorder, Attorney General, President's Assistant, one of the Council 
of Sir Edmund Andros, Major of the Main, which is equivalent to our IMajor 
General, and for ten years, 1690-1700, was Deputy Governor, the highest 
office in the Colony, Sir Edmund Andros being Governor over all the New 
England Colonies as a whole. 



* The colony was first called Providence Plantations. In 1638, Rev. John Clarke, whose trial for heresy 
is given in the previous chapter, and Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, a banished "heretic," purchased Aauid- 
neck Island of the Narragansett Imlians. The Hutchinson? started the town of Pocasset or Portsmouth. 
Clarke started the town of Newport in 1639. Rev. Clarke thought Aquidneck a good name for the entire 
region and found many who followed his example in calling it that. In 1644, the year Surgeon John went 
back to England, the Assembly met and debated which of the several names used should be adopted by 
the colony. They settled upon the name Island of Rhode, or Rhode Island. The name spreail so slowly 
that Surgeon John, fifteen years later, used in his will the term Providence Plantations. In 1663, tlie 
name of Rhode Island was finally and officially confirmed. 



\ 



50 ^be (Brccne Jfamil^ 

This brave record has been well kept up. Of this family have been 
General Nathaniel Greene, greatest, save Washington, of all the Revolution- 
ary War heroes ; General George Sears Greene and General Francis Vinton 
Greene. It has supplied Rhode Island with representatives, senators, su- 
preme judges and governors. As a result, when a Greene first begins to 
study his pedigree, his first question is, — "Am I of the Warwick Greenes?" 

To take up Surgeon John of Warwick, R. I.'s history first of all. 

Roger Williams purchased the land upon which the city of Providence 
stands, from the Indians. Then as grantor he deeded it to twelve trustees 
for the use of the colony. Stukeley Westcott is the first trustee mentioned, 
John Greene the fifth, and Ezekiel Holyman the last. Two years later, the 
time being ripe for division, the land was divided into fifty-four lots or 
shares, one lot being allowed to each single man or head of a family who 
had been an " associate," as the records phrase it, with Roger Williams at 
the time of the Providence settlement. Where a husband had died the 
widow was given his share, so that none were either overlooked or given a 
double portion. 

John Greene Senior and John Greene Junior each received an allotment. 
The first of these was of course Surgeon John. It has been held that John 
Greene the Younger was the Surgeon's oldest son. But inasmuch as he was 
a lad of less than sixteen in June, 1636, when Providence was settled, this 
seems improbable. It seems more reasonable that the younger John w^as 
John Greene of Quidnessett, a man of thirty at the time of the exodus. /^ 

When Providence bid fair to become a prosperous settlement, IMassa- 
chusetts began to make trouble by claiming it was within the limits grant- 
ed to her, and belonged to her jurisdiction. She did not hesitate to step in 
and nullify Providence Plantation's laws, and she threatened to prosecute 
those of heterodox religious views. This was the beo-inning^ of a long- strug- 

o 0000 

gle that lasted for years, and in which neither Rhode Island nor IMassa- 
chusetts show up to advantage. They quarrelled, took unfair advantages of 
each other, appealed to the mother country, and were as stiff-headed and un- 
reasonable a set of mortals as could well be imagined, 

Roger Williams in 1641 sailed to England to get a charter for R. I. that 
would stop these clamors. The spite-work and quarrelling waxed worse 
after his departure. There were Samuel Gorton, Richard Carder, Randall 
Holden and Robert Potter, particularly violent in speech, and ring-leaders 
on the R. I. side. Surgeon John was a warm friend of these men, and in 
the thickest of the fray. The Surgeon wrote a bold pamphlet o n what was 
called the Verin Controversy, a question of heresy and the State's right to put 
down such beliefs. He flatly charged the Legislature of the Bay (Mass.) with 
" Usurping the power of Christ over the Churches and men's consciences." 



TOe 6rccne family 51 

There was nothing of the craven about the doughty Surgeon. The }-ear 
after his settlement at Providence, he paid a visit to Boston. Here he ex- 
pressed himself freeh' as to the tyranny of town officers trying to control men's 
consciences. Palfrey tells us that the Boston authorities, Sept. 19, 1637, 
fined him twenty pounds (nearly $100.00) for " seditious discourse," and sent 
him away with an injunction to keep away for the future. 

Captain Edward Johnson in his " Wonder-working Providence," tells us 
the ^Massachusetts' side. He says Surgeon John Greene " spoke contemptu- 
ously of Magistrates," and because of it was heavily fined and " forbidden this 
jurisdiction on pain of further fine and imprisonment." INIeanwhile three of 
his especial friends. Potter, Carder and Holden were " disenfranchised of 
their privileges and prerogatives, and their names cancelled out of tlie re- 
cord." Captain Johnson thought these men deserved this punishment, for he 
says they were "full gorged with dreadful and damnable errors." Another 
author tells us that these men disturbed the authorities by " their insolent 
and riotous carriages," and that they wrote " insulting and abusive letters" in 
defending their course to their superiors. 

Gorton, the most turbulent of the lot, determined to start a new 
settlement. In 1642, he purchased Occupessuatuxet, or Pawtuxet, of jNIian- 
tonomo, the head sachem of the Narragansett Indians. This was called 
Shawomet or Shawmut until 35 years later, when it was changed to War- 
wick. Following Roger Williams' example, this land was deeded to a dozen 
trustees or proprietors, the coterie of the five close friends already mentioned, 
and John Wicks, Francis Weston, Richard Waterman, John Warner, Sam- 
son Shatton, William Wardwell* and Nicholas Power. How close and strong 
was the friendship between these men who faced peril and hardship togeth- 
er, is shown by the fact that Surgeon John's near descendants married into 
the Wicks, Holden, Gorton, Potter and Carder families. , 

Massachusetts took this new settlement to be a challenge to her from 
her most seditious and rebellious subjects. The long threatened storm burst 
upon them in a fury. The ^Massachusetts authorites sent commissioners and 
forty soldiers, who broke up the settlement by force, and took nearly all the 
settlers of Shawomet prisoners. This was in 1643. J^^^i wife of Surgeon 
John, Vv'as drawing near death. In her weak state, she was dreadfully alarmed, 
and her husband carried her off for refuge to the friendly Indians at Conan- 
icut, R. I. Tradition says that here, with dusky faces watching about her 
death-bed, she passed away. Her husband remained with her until the mor- 
tal breath had left her body, and so escaped the trials of his comrades. 

* Wuddall in records. This is the William Wardwell whose daughter Frances married John Anthony, 
and wa? thus the fore-mother of Susan B. Anthony. This was a Quaker family, and afterwards lived at 
Portsmouth where there was a large Friends' settlement. 



52 ^he (3vccnc jfainil^ 

Gorton and ten others were taken to Massachusetts. They were tried 
on the charge of being " damnable heretics." They w^ere convicted and 
sentenced to hard labor at Charlestown, Mass. The next year, 1644, this 
sentence was commuted to banishment. Surgeon John Greene was selected 
by the indignant Rhode Islanders to present their grievances to England. 
He got safely away in 1644, and made so favorable an impression in the 
mother country that he secured valuable concessions and privileges for R. I. 
While in England he married a former R. I. friend, the widow Alice Daniels, 
who had returned to her old home. She lived but a short time, and after 
his return to R. I. he married a third wife, Phillipa (or Phellix), who sur- 
vived him. He died in i^S9 ^^ Warwick (Shawomet).* He was buried at 
Conanicut (or Connimicut) by the side of his faithful Joan. As has already 
been said, his children for many years held high official positions under the 
government. Nevertheless, after his death, John of Quidnessett was the lead- 
ing Greene of Rhode Island, and stands out in a plain, clear light of his own. 

I prepared a condensed genealogy of the Warwick Greenes, but find 
that it takes more space than can well be given it. ^ I will only say, that but 
four of his children left issue, Mary Greene-Sweet, Deputy-Governor John, 
James and Thomas. Gen. Nathaniel Greene, the greatest of the Warwick 
Greenes, was the great-great-grandson of Surgeon John, [John\ James', 
Jabez'^, Nathaniel"* and General Nathaniel Greene'.] 

From thenceforth the line of John Greene of Quidnessett alone is traced. 



* The spelling in Surgeon John Greene's will is calculated to excite a smile : " ffurthermore," " sonne," 
'akers," ' lott," etc., are some of these aueer spellings. The will closes thus: 

"Signed by mee, John Greene, Senior. 
A True Coppie as atests John Greene, Town Clarke. 

per Ezekiel HoUyman, debety— " 



1 



CHAPTER IX 

R. I. HISTORY TO DEATH OF JOHN OF QUIDNESSETT, 1 69 5 

History of Richard Smith. His trading post. His Block House. Connection with John 
Greene. The Atherton Company and the Qtudnessett land dispute. Trials of John 
Greene, the chief leader for Quidnessett. His quarrel ivith Awashuwett. His last 
days. His burial. Joan Greene and her character. 

Pugnacious old John of Quidnessett! The author being twice de- 
scended from him, takes a relative's privilege of plain speaking. John Greene 
of Quidnessett was good to his women folks, as New Englanders say, and 
was as true as steel to his friends. The Quidnessett land dispute that lasted 
for twelve long years, would never have been won, as it eventually was, by 
the purchasers of the Atherton concession, had it not been for John of Quid- 
nessett's grit and perseverance, and the stoutness with which he stood out for 
his own rights and his neighbors' rights as well. But with all his admirable 
qualities, we must confess that he looked to John Greene's comfort, John 
Greene's interest, and John Greene's pocket-book, and that he was a stormy 
character. 

His history is so interwoven with Richard Smith's, that something of 
the latter's history must be given also. 

Richard Smith was known as the Patriarch of Narragansett. He was 
among the first refugees in R. I., being then 40 years of age, and having a 
wife and four children. Although he came into this wild land for consci- 
ence's sake, he was not averse toward bettering his condition, when once he 
was there. He saw his opportunity in the neighboring Indian stronghold of 
Aquidnessett, or as the white men soon shortened it, Quidnessett. 

In the History of Narragansett, Potter tells us that the Narragansett In- 
dians occupied the present county of Washington, R. I. At this time their 
head sachem was Miantanomo. The tribe numbered 30,000 souls, of whom 
5,000 were warriors. Most of the tribe were congregated in Aquidnessett, 
along the banks of the Cocumquissett and at Nancook. So that this region 
was very densely populated. Quidnessett extended from Potowomut River 

53 



54 ^be 6recne ffatnil^ 

to Narragansett Ba}-, and its western boundary was the Pequot Path, (later 
called the Post Road,) that was the common thoroughfare between the tribes, 
and for all comers and goers to Massachusetts, Connecticut, or to the sea. 
The Pequot Path led to the sea by way of Cocumquissett Brook. Here, a mile 
and a half from the present Wickford, Smith decided to build a trading post. 
Smith was politic enough to humor the Indian love of ceremony, and 
to gain their good will by formally asking their consent to locate among 
them. x\fter some years, he purchased outright from them the land he had 
previously been using. After his death, when his son's title to the land was 
disputed, John Greene, who had been with him from the first, made this de- 
position, that throws a vivid light on Smith's early dealings with the Indians. 

"King's Province in Narragansett 21 July, 1679. 
To All Whom This May Concern : 

I, John Greene, inhabiting in the Narragansett Country, called King's Province, I 
being a sworn Conservator of the Peace, do on my Oath affirme, that forty years and 
more ago, Mr. Richard Smith that I then lived with, did first begin and make a set- 
tlement in the Narragansett, and that by the consent and approbation of the Indian 
Princes and people, and did improve land mow meadows severall yeares before War- 
wick was settled by any English man ; and I, being present did see and heare all the 
Narragansett Princes being assembled together give by livery and seizing some hun- 
dreds of acres of land about a mile in length, and so down to the sea ; tliis being about 

thirty years agoe, many hundred Indians being present, consenting thereunto.. 

This I certify to be true as I am in Publique office, on oath and under 
my hand. 

John Greene." 

Smith chose for the site of his trading post the spot already spoken of, 
near Cocumquissett Brook, and hard by the Pequot Path. Here he built a 
heavy and substantial block house or castle, as it was called. It was built 
of thick logs, brick and heavy timbers. The bricks, hardware and lumber 
used in constructing it were brought from Taunton, Mass., in boats. When 
the King Philip Indian War was on hand. Smith's castle became a fort. 
Forces assembled and marched from here. After the Great Swamp Fight, 
both the wounded and the dead were brought here ; 42 of the latter were 
buried in one grave near the house. This " Big Mound " can yet be identi- 
fied. This noted landmark, the oldest building in this part of Rhode Island, 
is still standing. Richard Smith left it to his daughter, Mrs. Updike, and 
it is yet called the Updike House. It has been newly covered on the out- 
side, but the old timbers and brick yet remain in it, and the interior is said 
to be very much as of old. 

The Block House was at once home, fort, trading post and inn. All 
travelers, whether white men or Indians, were fed and lodged for as long a 



^be 6rcene Ifamil^ 55 

time as they chose to stay, free of all charge. Here Roger Williams was a 
visitor, staying days at a time, and preaching frequently. Some of his letters 
are dated from Smith's Block House. Smith was a shrewd trader. He 
sold the Indians glass beads, knives, hatchets, blankets and red cloth at ex- 
travagant prices, and took his pay in skins and furs at ridiculously low 
values. A plan a good many post traders have since followed in their deal- 
ings with the red man. 

From the very first there was with him an Englishman, ten )'ears his 
junior — John Greene of Quidnessett. This is one of the John Greenes al- 
ready referred to as belonging to the English Gillingham Greenes. Born in 
1606, he had come over in 1635, the year of the great exodus; he had made 
a brief stay in the West Indies, and had then joined the Massachusetts col- 
ony, only to push onward to R. I. the next year, disgusted with ]\Iassachu- 
setts' illiberality in matters of religion. The year after that, 1637, found 
him the sole white man, save Smith himself, in the Indian settlement of 
Quidnessett.* Whether there was a relationship between the two men, or 
an old friendship in England, is now unknowable. 

The relation between them at first was that of employer and employe. 
In time this is supposed to have become a partnership. Greene was a bach- 
elor when he went to R. I., and was in no haste to change his condition. He 
lived in Smith's home as one of the family for years. There was the warm- 
est possible friendship between the men and between their families. From 
various circumstances it is supposed that Greene married not far from 1642, 
when he was about 36 years of age. A good-sized family, mostly boys, grew 
up around them. The stirring times when England was convulsed in civil 
war, when Charles I was beheaded, and Oliver Cromwell was Lord Protector 
over England, were the quietest days of Early Rhode Island. Of the most 
of these years the records are absolutely silent as to John of Quidnessett. 
We know that he remained in business with Smith, and that all went well 
with him. Then came the great land muddle of Quidnessett, and John 
Greene at once became the most central figure on the canvas of that history. 

Smith and Greene were for some years the only white settlers at Quid- 
nesset. A Mr. Wilcox and Roger Williams purchased land there about 1643 
or 1644. Williams, however, in the year 1651, sold his " trading house, two 
big guns and a small island for goats," to Richard Smith. Probably a few squat- 
ters were here and there, but practically it was still Indian territory up to 
June II, 1659. On that date, Sachem Coquinaquant, on behalf of the Nar- 
ragansetts, sold the entire region of Quidnessett to a company of land specu- 



* The date of Smith settlement at Quidnessett is given by Daniel Gould Allen in his History of 
Quidnessett. 



56 ^be Greene jramtl^ 



lators who were headed by ]\Iajor Humphrey Atherton. There were a few 
R. I. parties in the company, notably the Patriarch, Richard Smith himself, 
but the most of them were Boston and Connecticut speculators. 

jNIajor Atherton talked the Narragansett tongue as fluently as an Indian 
himself. He had great influence with the chiefs. It is said that he paid but 
i67< cents per acre for this land, which 40 years later sold in market at an 
increase of 1,000 per cent ! Small wonder that the Atherton Purchase was 
backed by the then leading capitalists of the new world. John Greene of 
Ouidnessett was not one of the original company, but became an early share- 
holder. Trouble at once sprang up. The settlers who came in, bought land 
as they knew, with a clouded title. But once having paid their money for 
it, they were determined to defend their title at all hazards. John Greene, 
by general consent, was the leader for the Atherton land purchasers.* He 
put up a hard and brave fight. He took abuse and arrest, insult and imprison- 
ment; but he stuck to his claim with a bull dog grip, and in the end forced 
the R. I. Colony to aknowledge his title, and give himself and his companions 
peaceful possession of their lands. 

It is impossible in a single paragraph to make clear why this Atherton 
land purchase had so shadowy a title. To begin with, Rhode Island, IMas- 
sachusetts and Connecticut each claimed this region. Then R. I. had passed 
a law that no more land should be purchased from the Indians, without the 
Colony of Rhode Island's consent. ^Major Atherton paid no attention to this 
law, and R. I. at once proceeded to make things lively for the Quidnessett 
settlers. They were told they must purchase their property over from R. I., 
or she would not acknowledge their title, and she threatened them, if they 
claimed allegiance to Connecticut, that she would confiscate their property. 
The result was, the settlers banded together, and declared for Connecticut, 
which at once made R. I. their enemy. 

But Connecticut was jealous also. She arrested John Greene, Thomas 
Gould and George Whitman, three very prominent men, and put them in jail 
at Hartford, because they had sent up a petition to the R. I. legislature for the 
release of their lands, thus acknowledging, as Connecticut thought, Rhode 
Island's claims. 

In 1663 John Greene, Richard Smith and others petitioned to be under 
Connecticut jurisdiction. This made the R. I. officials very angry. In due 
time came this order : 



* In a certain New England history it is stated that the second John Greene of Warwick— he who 
afterwards was known as Deputy-Gov. John— led the Quidnessett land flght. This is an error. When 
that gentleman was in England, he got the Atherton Co., then in the midst of their troubles, to concede 
their lands to the crown through him, in order to get a royal grant for the same. This lawyer service 
was the extent of his efforts, The mistake arose from the similarity of names, both being John Greene. 



^be 6rccne ffamiii? 57 

"Newport 1664, May 5. 
Ordered, that a warrant goe from the Court to require John Greene Senior living 
at Narragansett, to come before this Court." 

It is evident he did not go peacefully, for in the official records there is 
yet preserved this indignant letter written ni^e days later by John Greene's 
fast friend, Richard Smith : 

"Wickford, 14 May, 1664. 
Captain Hutchinson : \ 

My kind respects unto you sir. This may give you to understand 
some late actions and proceedings of R. I. men, and if these actings of theyrs be not 
countermanded by the government of Conn. , they will insult beyond measure. Three 
days since they came to John Greene's house at Aquidnessett with a warrant from 
theyre Court under the Governor's hand, and forceably fetched him away to Rhode 

Island where he yet remaynes. His goeing was also not known to any here 

Rich. Smith, Sen'r. " 

There was a warm time at Newport. But the bluff old Indian trader 
stood his ground so sturdily that the authorities came to his terms, though 
none too graciouslv, as this official record shows : 

"Newport, May 1664. 

Ordered, that John Greene's petition shall be considered. 

John Greene Sen'r, living at Narragansett or Aquidnessitt, having been called be- 
fore the Court for to answer before tlie Court for his adhearing to the government of 
Conn, and having been examined consearning the premises, hee so answered as did 
give the Court just offence ; and upon the sence thereof, the sayd John Greene doth 
present his petition, praying the Court to pardon sayd offence in his adhearing to the 
government of Conn, and his answering to the same before the Court as hee did ; 
upon the real consideration of the aforesayd petition the Court doe pass by his offence, 
and doe promise to the aforesayd John Greene all lawful protection and doe declare 
that he is still looked on as a freeman of the CoUony. " 

We all know the old rhvme, 

"When the Devil was sick. 
The Devil a saint would be : 
When the Devil got well, 
The d 1 a saint was he ! " 

Stiff-headed old John of Quidnessett was a loyal "freeman of R. I." long 
enough to get home, and not much longer. For seven more years the strug- 
gle went on, then R. I. gave in. In May, 1671, a special court was held at 
Aquidnessett, and Greene and his comrades were assured of full possession of 



58 Zbc (Brccne Ifamil^ 

their lands, if they would acknowledge Rhode Island's jurisdiction. John 
Greene became a "freeman," as did his son Daniel upon the same day. May 
20, 1 67 1, and the 12-years land dispute was forever at an end. 

The next year John of Ouidnessett, with John Fones and five others, 
bought of Awashuwett, chief sachem of the Narragansett Indians, a large 
tract of land known as the Devil's Foot, or the Fones Purchase. This tract 
included a strip of country a long distance northwest of the Pequot Path 
from Devil's Foot Rock to Hunt's River. 

When the King Philip War broke out, some three years later, Chief 
Awashuwett kept a sullen neutrality. About this time a dumb boy died 
under mysterious circumstances. There were not wanting whispers that the 
Indians had something to do with his death. Old John probably voiced the 
community's suspicion of the sachem's sincerity and of his conniving at the 
boy's death. A quarrel arose between them. After the war was over 
Awashuwett was tried by court martial in Newport for his treatment of John 
Greene. John i\ndrews, (into whose lines the Ouidnessett Greenes afterwards 
married,) testified that Awashuwett had " laid hands " upon him. What the 
chief's punishment was we do not know. John of Quidnessett's sons. Captain 
Edward and lyieut. John, are believed to have won their titles in this Indian 
War. Possibly Lieut. James, a younger son, received his honors in the same 
war, though being barely of age when the war closed, this is not certain. 

July 29, 1679, he, with 41 other leading Narragansett citizens, signed a 
petition to the King praying that he " would put an end to these differences 
about the government thereof, which has been so fatal to the prosperity of 
the place, animosity still arising in the people's minds, as they stand effected 
by this or that government." 

Several times after this, John of Quidnessett's name appears on the re- 
cords as a witness to the transfer of land, etc. March 24, 1682, he divided 
his land among some of his sons who remained in R. I. Beside these there 
w^ere two or three sons who went to New Jersey, and a daughter or two. 
These other sons probably received their portion in money. As for the daugh- 
ters, they did not count for much in those days, and received almost nothing 
from their fathers' estates. John Greene's wife was alive when these deeds 
were executed. There are three old and dilapidated graves in what was 
once a part of John of Quidnessett's land. Two of these rude head-stones bear 
the initials D. G. and R. G., and mark the graves of John of Quidnessett's 
son Daniel and his wife Rebecca. The other gravestone, the oldest of all, is 
marked I. G.* It is believed to mark the grave of Mrs. Joan Greene, wife 
of John of Quidnessett. 

* Evidently intendeii for J. G. In olden times the two capital letters I and J were made almost exactly 
alike. 



Zbc 6rccne family 59 



His grave does not appear beside hers. In Rhode Island they point 
out a grave some miles away, as that of John of Ouidnessett. He is believed, 
from various things, to have died in 1695. Tradition says he was 96. He 
was really 89. Where Rhode Island people believe John Greene to have been 
buried is at the Old Field Graveyard, a mile west of Maple Root Church, 
that a hundred years later itself became a noted Rhode Island landmark. It 
is supposed that he left Ouidnessett to live with his son John, and was bur- 
ied where he died*. 

John of Quidnessett's wife's name was Joan. There has been much idle 
conjecture as to whom she was. She was not the daughter of Surgeon John 
Greene, as some have claimed, for the Surgeon's daughter Joan died in child- 
hood. Nor was she the daughter of Richard Smith, as others have insisted, 
for Joan Smith married a Mr. Newton. Gov. Bradford of ]\Iassachusetts, 
speaking of one held to be John of Ouidnessett, uses this language : " One 
Greene who married the wife of one Beggarly." So his wife was a young 
widow, Mrs. Joan Beggarly, whom he probably married on one of his busi- 
ness trips to Massachusetts. 

Whether she was handsome or plain-featured ; whether she was brilliant 
or dull, we do not know. But we do know she possessed a remarkably e\"en, 
sweet temper that nothing could ruffle or disturb. After the then English cus- 
tom, she had been baptized Joan, but was always called Jane. There is an 
old family superstition among the Quidnessett Greenes that all their Janes 
will be self-sacrificing women who will take special care of the sick, and 
tenderly care for the old and infirm among the relation. It is likely that 
this superstition dates from the life's record of this good, placid Jane herself. 

Ever since this good dame's day there have appeared again and again 
among her descendants some of her own sunny tempered kind. They look 
through rose-colored spectacles, and keep up good heart and serene spirits 
whatever betide. This disposition is illustrated b\- the stock family story of 
one of these good-natured Greenes whose wife had a furious temper. The 
story goes that when she was pleasant, he always blandly spoke to her as 
"Wife." When she began to fret and scold, he would soothingly remon- 
strate, — " Come, come. Sister Greene, let's have no trouble;" but when the 
storm broke into a tantrum of rage and abuse, he would pick up his hat and 
beat a retreat, philosophically saying, — " Well ! well ! Mrs. Greene, have it 
your way ! Have it your way !" 

* There is tradition that sometime after the death of his wife Joan, the aged husband left the home 
place where his son Daniel lived, and took up his abode with his son Lieut. John, at Coventry, and when 
he died he was buried in the Old Field grave lot. Mrs. Hannah Howard .says there are many graves 
there. Some are unmarked, and the head stones of part of the others are illegible. The head of the Am- 
erican line probably lies in one of these unmarked graves. 



CHAPTER X 

THE HUMAN SIDE OF THE STORY 

The early Greenes as slave-holders and dram-drinkers. Their petty economies. The^r sup- 
er stitio7is and beliefs in ivitches and ghosts. Their /reaks 0/ conscience, and fear of 
education for zvomen. 

Nor Right, nor Wrong ? Who shall declare 

When much depends upon the point 
Of view. In justice, then, forbear 

To judge these upright men of old. 
They did as seemed the Right to them. 

And when two hundred years have rolled 
Adown the stream of Time, our lives, 

With taint of Wrong, may seam as fraught, 
To those who follow us, as theirs 

These older ones seem now. Judge not 

Our fathers, then. Their point of view 

Was widely varient from our own ; 
Yet that they lived true, righteous lives. 

And loved the Lord, is clearly shown. — A. A. S. 

It is with no small degree of complacency that the descendants of the 
early Greenes rehearse their foreparents' sacrifices for liberty of conscience. 
They reckon them holy men and devout women; they speak approvingly of 
their thrift and prudence ; they think of them as persons above pet':y super- 
stition, and as having a bias toward learning and a liberal education in all 
things. d 

But the truth is, our far-off fathers and mothers were as human as 
ourselves. They were not two or three centuries in advance of their age, 
nor were they saints. Perhaps it may bring the over-weening pride of family 

down, to consider some of their short-comings. 

The early Greenes were slave-holders. So were the Waites, Ward- 
wells, Nichols, Coggeshalls, Tripps, Pierces, and almost every other family 

60 



Zbc (Brcene J'airul^ 6i 



into which they married. Some of those old New Englanders made fortunes 
buying up West Indies' molasses and making it into rum. There was no 
tax on the rum, and in wholesales quantities it was supplied at sixpence a 
gallon. Some of the forefathers used to regularly load vessels with rum, take 
it to Africa and trade it for slaves and gold dust. They sold the rum dear, 
and bought the slaves cheap. So far from feeling guilty of a crime, some of 
those pious captains used to call all hands together for daily devotions, and, 
we are told, never failed to ask God's blessing on their slaver^^' enterprise ! 

They were not hypocrites. In that day, no one thought it wrong to 
traffic in human flesh. Dr. McSparran, the noble old Episcopalian minister 
who baptized the children of the La Valley-Kings — a branch of the Ouidnes- 
S3tt Greenes — owned no less than ten slaves. An eminent Massachusetts 
clergyman preached from the pulpit that Negroes, Indians and Quakers were 
the spoil of the righteous, i. e. given to their portion as slaves by an all-right- 
eous Providence. As for drinking, it was only disgraceful to get drunk. 
Even then, the Deacon or the Elder himself might get a little "foxy" on 
Training Day or Christmas, without losing caste. 

Again, the forefathers were imdeniably thrifty ; but we would be hor- 
rified to-day at their petty shifts and economies. A certain Massachusetts 
deacon used to blow out the light just before he commenced on his 20-min- 
utes prayers so as to save the candle from wasting. It was a common thing 
to soak backlogs in water, so that they would burn slower and last longer. 
In summer, if the church was some distance awa)', the goodman and his 
dame, and their brood of Ezras, Ebenezers, Thomases and Josiahs, Pollys, 
Elizabeths and Susannahs, would carry their shoes and stockings in their 
hands until in sight of the church, and thus save the wear and tear on two- 
thirds of a dozen or so pairs of shoes. The daughters were taught to rub 
the bread dough so cleanly out of the rising-pan that the dish looked as 
though it had been washed and wiped. Rigid economy in those days of 
great families was indeed a cardinal virtue. 

As to superstitions, the Greenes, like their neighbors, were chock full 
and running over with it. If a wart appeared on a girl's hand, she was told 
to steal a neighbor's dish-cloth, rub the wart with it, and then bury the rag ; 
they never doubted but what the wart would shrivel away as the dish-cloth 
decayed. If the son cut his foot, the "wise man" was called, and he stanch- 
ed the blood by a mysterious muttered gibberish and by " touching" the 
patient. They saw "ha'nts," spooks and hob-goblins, and heard unearthly 
noises in graveyards. They suspected people of the Evil Eye, and as for 
witches, they firmly believed in them. It was not only in Salem that the 
witch excitement of 1692 ran high. All over Massachusetts, Connecticut 
and PJiode Island the witch craze spread. Hair-raising stories of witch 



62 Zhe Greene family 

doings and conjuring were told as gospel truth for generations after. The 
first family historian, Mrs. Nancy Nichols, collected several of these stories 
still handed down in her day, 1 767-1820.* Unfortunately her recitals were 
verbal ones, and have become so dimmed in her descendants' memories that 
they cannot be given with any degree of accuracy. 

The Greenes had many purely family superstitions. One of them was 
their dislike to have a picture made of themselves. Even as late as 1850, 
some of them would not permit a picture to be made of themselves under 
any circumstances. They believed that in every family there would be one 
daughter who would be her mother's double in looks, disposition and station 
in life. They were exceedingly superstitious as to names. But much of 
their belief in this has been lost. It is known that they thought each one 
of their Janes, whether born or married into the family, would be remarka- 
bly affectionate in her family, and would be exceedingly kind to the sick 
and the afflicted. It has already been told that one great branch of the 
Greenes adopted in England the custom of calling their Annes by the name 
of Welthian. After coming to the Colonies, they used the name of Welthian 
as both baptismal and given name ; their Annes they now called Nancy, 
after the common custom of the da v. The Greenes, one and all, firmlv be- 
lieved that their Nancys would have a strenuous life, full of cares, trials and 
vexations. They believed just as firmly that these Nancys would be extra- 
ordinary workers, and that somehow they would get through all their trials 
and be none the worse for them. 

Several of these good ancestors were of so tender a conscience that they 
would leave the House of God rather than to stay and see it desecrated by 
people singing within its walls. A century later, other pious ancestors were 
shocked by the introduction of hymn tunes with printed notes ; and also 
the introduction of instruments of music into the church. Plenty of them 
refused to let their daughters learn beyond the rudiments of reading, spell- 
ing, writing and arithmetic, from fear that education would " spile 'em." 

Bless their dear, unreasonable, rigid and narrow old souls ! If we were 
half as honest, industrious, and attentive to our own affairs as they were, we 
could more fittingly criticise them. Be assured they measured up to the re- 
quirements of honored ancestors better than we measure up to being their 
worthy descendants. 

* Mrs. Nichols was a great-great-great-granddaughter of the emigraut John Greene of Quidnessett, 
She was a born historian. She was born in 1767, when parties were yet alive who could remember back 
into the first century of New England settlement. Owing to the prejudice of that day against literary 
women, her carefully collated history of family biography, ancestry, folk-lore and anecdotes was never 
written. She delighted in telling this to appreciative listeners, however. By an unusual stretch of gen- 
erations she was my grandmother, although born ninety years before rae. When a child I fortunately 
heard parts of this verbal history repeated by old people who had heard it from her own lips. Much of 
her history has perished, but from that that has come down to us, I obtained clues to interesting pages 
of family history that otherwise would have been forever lost. 



I 



/ 



PART TWO 



GENEALOGY OF THE QUIDNESSETT GREENES 



CHAPTER XI 

THE FAMILY OF JOHN GREENE OF OUIDNESSETT 

In preparing this genealogy over 1300 letters of inquiry have been 
written, family records hunted up, and gravestone inscriptions copied. Every 
author who could throw light on the subject has been consulted, and church 
and military records have been searched. In addition, the official town and 
state records of Rhode Island have been copied word for word, so far as they 
related to any of this family.* 

There is no dispute as to the greater part of the Quidnessett Greenes' 
genealogy. In a few cases there are serious disagreements. As a man can- 
not possibly have but one correct pedigree, a disputed ancestry is a serious 
thing. In these cases I have taken a uniform course. The official records, 
being considered in law as upon their face documentary proof, ate taken as 
the true statement, unless an error can be clearly proven in them. And to 
determine whether an error has been possible, all other evidence has been 
gathered together and weighed as impartially as may be. 

Although the official records are received authority in law, a class of 
minor errors is bound to occur. Some of the town clerks were wretched 
penmen, and the early spelling was atrocious. In many cases the ink has 
faded so that it must be read under a glass. Hence arose such copyist's mis- 
takes as Infield for Enfield, John for the abbreviation Jas., etc. Much care 
has been taken to correct these mis-readings. 

Again, the records often abruptly cease, or perhaps skip a generation. 
The North Kingstown records that particularly concerned this family have 
been injured by fire, and partially destroyed. f It is in these cases that pri- 



*The Vital Records of Rhode Island have been officially tabulated by James N. Arnold, who has given 
his life to genealogical studies. The R, I. legislature not only sanctioned his work, but made a liber- 
al appropriation to cover the expense of the .same. Subsequent legislatures have given it their ap- 
proval and support. Mr. Arnold in person, loaned the author much that was invaluable to her work. 

t The original name of this region was the Indian name of Aauidnessett, contracted to Quidnessett, 
In 1663, '"t was incorporated as Wiekford, and again in 1674 as King's Towne. In 1722, the southern part, 
originally called Pettequonscutt. was re-named South Kingstown, and the remainder was ever after 
known as North Kingstown. 

65 



66 Zbc 6vccnc Jfaniil^ 

vate records and family Bibles have played so important a part in bridging 
the gaps in the record. 

One word more. To avoid confusion, the many early Johns and James 
are distinguished by some certain appellation. This is either some title to 
which they were entitled, or the nickname by which they were known dur- 
iiig their life-time. Thus, the founder of this American line is John of 
Quidnessett ; his son, Lieut. John of Coventry ; and in the third generation 
it is John of Bristol, White Hat John, and Wealthy John. 



John Greene^ of Quidnessett did not marry until of middle age. It was 
a day of early marriages, which makes more noticeable the inclination of so 
many of the related Warwick and Quidnessett Greenes toward late marriages. 
Surgeon John Greene w^as thirty-four and his son, Deputy-Governor John, 
thirty, when they became Benedicts. The Surgeon's cousin, the John of 
Quidnessett of this history, was in the neighborhood of 36 when he took a 
wnfe. His son and namesake, Lieut. John, was 39, and another son; Daniel, 
was about the same age, when they married. Somewhere in the blood was 
a streak of unhaste to assume the ties of matrimony. But our dilatory an- 
cestors w^ere strong of physique and long-lived, and their crojD of olive 
branches seemed in nowise lessened by their fathers' late start in " multiply- 
ing and replenishing the earth." 

The date of John of Quidnessett's marriage can be nearly approximated. 
After living several years in Richard Smith's family, he married a young 
widow, Mrs. Joan Beggarly. It is Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts who 
gives her name. Therefore, she was doubtless a member of that Colony. 
Greene and Smith must have made many trips to Boston after goods for 
their Indian trading post. On one of these trips, Greene may have married 
the widow. 

They raised a good-sized family. Like all the Gillingham Greenes 
they had more sons than daughters. As they had four sons old enough to 
be freemen in 1671, the date of their marriage was probably about 1642. 
Captain Edward was the oldest son, and born about 1643, ^^ ^^ ^^^*^ ^ grand- 
son ten to twelve years of age, in 1695. Lieut. John* appears to have been 
the next son. He must have been near man's estate, in 1664, when in of- 
ficial records John of Quidnessett is styled John Greene, Senior. He is re- 
garded as the " Son" in the tracts of land held by "John Greene and vSon," 
in 1666, when he must have been of full legal age. Daniel and Henry 
were both " engaged" as R. I. freemen the same day with their father, the 

*In nearly all R. I. histories, Lieut. John^ of Coventry's birth is given as on June 16, 1651. This date is 
)io( that of Lieut. John's birth, but that of Lieut.-Governor John Greene of tVarwick. The similarity of 
names and title has caused the confusion. 



^be (Brecnc ffamtii? 07 



7 



day of the great compromise of the Ouidnessett land suit, May 20, 1671. 
So the younger of the two could not have been born later than 1650. A 
daughter is probably next; then came Robert, born in 1653, for he was a 
freeman in 1674. Huling gives James' birth year as 1655, There was a 
son Benjamin, supposed to be the youngest of them all. There was almost 
certainly a daughter Enfield, bearing that peculiar name that for five gen- 
erations was handed down in the Ouidnessett family. Probably there was 
a Welthian also. It was a Gillingham family name, and is found in the names 
of the brothers' daughters and granddaughters. 

There were therefore eight children, and probably nine. Henry went 
to New Jersey, and Robert is supposed to have gone there also. No attempt 
is made to trace their lines or the daughters' families. The Ouidnessett 
Greenes are therefore descended from one of these five brothers, Edward^, 
John', DanieP, James' or Benjamin-. ^ 

I have numbered the American generations from John Greene^ of Ouid- 
nessett. He was fifteenth from Lord Alexander de Greene de Boketon, who 
received his title in 1202 ; ninth from Sir Henry Greene, beheaded in 1399, 
and sixth from John the Fugitive. His pedigree runs thus : 

Greene Line. Sir Alexander^; his son- and grandson'^ whose names 
are lost ; Sir Thomas*; Sir Thomas', who married Lady Lucie de la Zouch, 
descended from the royal Capetian line; Lord Chief -Justice Sir Henry*'; the 
beheaded Sir Henry"; Thomas-; an unknown son^; John the Fugitive"^; Robert 
of Gillingham"; John^-; Henry^-^; Robert^*; John of Quidnessett^''. 

Capetian Line. Robert the Strong\ made Duke de France in 861; 
Duke Robert- ; Count Hugh the Great^ ; Hugh Capet\ King of France ; 
King Robert the Pious^ ; King Henry"; Hugh jNIagnus", Count de Verman- 
dois ; Lady IsabeP, married to Earl of Leicester ; Earl Robert^, Lord Chief- 
Justice of England ; Earl Robert^'^ ; Lady Margaret", married to Earl of 
Winchester ; Earl Roger'- ; Lady Elene''^ married to Alan, Lord de la Zouch, 
Governor of Northampton ; Lord Eudo de la Zouch'* ; Lady Lucie de la 
Zouch'\ who married the fifth Lord de Greene. 

John of Ouidnessett' was therefore twenty-fifth in descent from Robert 
the Strong; twenty-second from the king, Hugo Capet, and nineteenth 
from Hugh de Vermandois, the Great Crusader. 

Those who like to get as far back as possible toward Noah, have only 
to count the generations between John of Quidnessett and themselves, and 
add to the above. This will show the number of generations in all, back 
to the fountain head. 



Trace back along the line ; 

Acquaint you with the deeds 
Of these old sires and dames, 



68 TL\K (Brccne Jfainil^ 

And it sliall prove, if needSj 
The strongest reason why 

We, too, should do our best; 
We, too, should live our lives — 

Those lives in comfort blest — 
Ag suits the highest good. 

Nor heeds the Wrong's behest. 

A. A. S. 



CHAPTER XII 

LINE OF CAPTAIN EDWARD GREENE' 

Little is known of Captain Edward Greene", or of his line. He is sup- 
posed to have been the oldest son of John of Quidnessett, born about 1642. 
The clue to his age is that he deeded land in 1695 to his grandson, George 
Havens*. The lad to whom the land was given must have been ten to 
twelve years of age, as but a few years after himself and luifc conveyed the 
same land to his great-uncle, Benjamin 2^. 

It is not known where he acquired his title, though most probably in the 
Indian wars. He was married young, his wife being Mary Tibbetts, daugh- 
ter of Henry Tibbetts, an old settler of Quidnessett, who always followed, 
John Greene's leader§hip in the land dispute, and was once imprisoned for 
resisting certain claims of jurisdiction. Lieut. John Greene^, the next 
brother, is spoken of in a record of 1684 as of N. Y. It is supposed that 
Captain Edward and he went together to that then "far west" country. 
This must have been during the heat of the land dispute, as their names are 
not with their father's, brothers' and neighbors', who enrolled themselves as 
" engaged " to the R. I. side, at the day of the great compromise. May 20, 
1671. Lieut. John returned after a few years. Captain Edward evidently 
did not. Four of the sons were given land by 1683, but he was not one. 
The records are silent for tw^elve years beyond that, to 1695, which was 
probably near the date of his return to R. I. This is when he gave his 
grandson a deed to a certain piece of land. 

In 1695, he was enrolled as a freeman of North Kingstown, another proof 
that he had not been long a resident. In 1697, he sold 90 acres of land in 
East Greenwich, which is described in the deed as having been left to him by 
the will of his "honored father, lately deceased." There is a brief mention 
of Captain Edward Greene in the Council records of 1702. Again, Henry 
Tibbetts, in his will of 1713, left land to all his grandsons, excepting the 
sons of Edward Greene, " who are provided for." This is the last trace of 
Captain Edward^ in the records. 

As he lived in N. Y. twenty-five years or more, he probably left married 

69 



yo ZDc (3rccne ffaniil^ 

children behind him when he moved back to R. I. He is not certainly 
known to have had but three children. The two older ones were both born 
before 1680. Their descendants are as follows: 

Greene-Havens". This daughter married into the Havens fam- 
ily who owned immense tracts of land in Southern Connecticut. Her only 
known descendant was George^, to whom his grandfather deeded land. 
IMary, Desire, Thomas, Jonathan and Robert Havens were all of proper age 
to have been sisters and brothers to George Havens, but the records fail to 
give their descent. 

GEORGE GREENEl He married Mary whose surname is believed 
to ha\'e been Pierce, and thus she was related to his cousins, Peleg, WealtliN', 
John and Usal Greenes' wives. Her children and grandchildren have un- 
doubted Pierce names, Bathsheba, Peleg, George, etc. 

Anne Greene* born 1702. 

Sarah Greene*. 

George Greene* born 1704. 

George Greene^, m. Ann . They had William, b. 1773, Esther 

and Susanna. 

Benjamin Greene^, b, 1750. 

Mary Greene**, b. 1733. 

Henry Greene*, m. Hannah . Had Henry, born 1735 ; Sarah, George, 

John, Jonathan, Benjamin, Joseph and Hannah. 

George'^ is believed to have had a third daughter, Bathsheba*, next 
older than Henry^ She was a woman of great force of character, and her 
descendants are proud to claim her as a fore-mother. She married a widower, 
William Bentley, and by him had five sons, William'*, born 1735 ; Thomas^, 
James', Greene M.^ and Benjamin". One of her step-sons having alreadv 
been named George, she named her fourth son Greene, after her father, and 
this name, Greene, has been continued ever since in her line. Her son 
Greene^ married Dinah Straight. Their daughter Hannah'' married Ephraim 
Bennett. The grandson of this last couple, Stephen B. Bennett-, has written 
a family history of much interest. In it the descendants of Bathsheba 
Greene-Bentley are traced in full. 

Bathsheba's oldest son became an eminent Massachusetts divine, an in- 
timate friend of the Adamses of that day. Three of the others, Thomas', 
Greene Isl.^ and Benjamin'* served in the Revolutionary War. Eventually, 
Benjamin settled at Sharon Center, Ohio, and Tliomas and Greene M. Bent- 
ley in Pennsylvania, where they became prominent citizens. 

Austin in his Genealogical Dictionary gives Robert^ as a son of Edward. 
There is a town record, "Robert of Robarth Greene, born 1741," that prob- 
ably is of that man's son. Robarth is a frequent spelling for Robert among 
the Ouidnessett Greenes. 




Author of "Bennett, Bentley and Beers Families" 



I 



Zhc 6rccne fainilp 71 



There is yet another grandson of Captain Edward', who was Edward 
also, whether the son of George'^ or of Robert'^ is not clear. He married a 
daughter of William Tanner in 1739. He died before 1785, leaving, it is 
supposed, a son William^ Nothing more is known of the line of Captain 
Edward Greene. 

It is reasonable that Captain Edward may have left a married son in N. 
Y. when he returned to R. I. There is a family of York State Greenes, who 
claim to be descended from the Quidnesset or Kingstown Greenes of R. I. 
These are probably of Captain Edward's line. They can give by name no 
ancestor farther back than Philarmon Greene, born after 1740.' A partial 
continuance of this man's line is this : 

John Davis Greene of Philarmon. 
William Greene, " " 

Samuel Greene, " •' 

Andrew Greene, " " 

Alonzo Greene " " 

These last would have been of about the seventh generation from jonn 
Greene of Quidnesset, if of Captain Edward's line, as he was the oldest child, 
and early married. 

ADDENDA 

Since Chapter XH was proofed considerable data has come to light 
about this line. Under A, B, C and D, these new facts are given : 

(A.) Other N. Y. Descendants of Capt. Edward GreeneI After 
a quarter of a centur^-'s pioneer experience in N. Y., Captain Edward Greene 
returned to R. I. A grown son or sons remained in N. Y. The Philarmon 
Greene branch has already been given. We now have records of a brother 
and sister who were almost beyond question grand-children of Capt. Edward. 

Rachel Greene-De La Vergue^, born in the lake or central regions of 
N. Y. in 1737. vShe married Louis, son of Dr. Nicholas de la Vergue, who 
came from France about 1630, during the last Huguenot persecution. 

Jacob Greened Married Patience Sole. One of their children was 
Zophar^ born Aug. 13, 1766. This son married in 1793, the half sister of his 
Aunt Rachel's husband; his wife being Susannah, the 13th child of Dr. de 
la Vergue. They had 10 children, Martha, Elizabeth, Mary, Husted, Patience, 
Amy, Julia, Susan, Catherine and Emeline. 

Patience Greene", born Oct. 15, 1800, was married in 1820 to Job, son of 
John and Abigail Briggs. John was sixth in descent from John Briggs the 
contemporary of old John Greene at Quidnessett. He was doubh' descended 
from the Spencers and Griffins, and was sixth in descent from the head of the 



72 Zbc (Brccne jfamU\> 



Warwick Greenes, thus. Surgeon John Greene\ Mary Greene-Sweet^, 
Benjamin'', Welthian Sweet Briggs^, John' and Job*'. The line of Job Briggs' 
father, John'', has been tabulated, and includes over 460 persons, I shall not 
attempt therefore to give the descendants of Job and Patience, but merely note 
that all their line have the blood of both Warwick and Quidnessett Greenes. 

(B.) More of Bathsheba Greene's Line. It has already been told 
that Bathsheba Greene^ was first married to a Lewis. Her date of birth is 
not recorded, but it appears to have followed that of George Greene^, who 
was born in 1704. These children were all close together, but little over a 
year between any of them, so that she was probably born in 1705. She was 
then but about 15 when, as the justice carefully records it, she and Israel 
Lewis " Of ye towne of Westerly, according to ye Laws Custom and Usage 
of our Government are now this Day Lawfully Joyned together in the hon- 
erable state of matremony June ye 30, 1720." Israel Lewis died in the 
spring of 1732, making his wife executrix, and leaving her land and money. 
She had 7 Lewis children, Enoch, Israel, Ebenezer, Robert, Bathsheba, Eliza- 
beth and Hannah. Enoch, the oldest son, married Mary Kenyon and died at 
Westford, Conn., where his old home is yet a landmark of the region. His 
heirs were Tacy, Mary, John, Israel, Bathsheba, Enoch, Elizabeth, Bene- 
dict and Joshua. There are no records of the other Lewis children of 
Bathsheba's. 

Bathsheba's second husband was much her senior, he having married 
the first time in 1703, two years before Bathsheba herself was born. He had 
8 children of his own, she had 7, and 5 more w^ere born to them, making a 
family of fair size! Samuel Wilbour, J. P., records the marriage of "Wil- 
liam Bentley, of William and Sarah, Westerly, R. I.," to the "Widow 
Lewis," Aug. i, 1734. 

(C.) Descendants of Hannah Bentley-Bennett" have been given. Greene 
M. Bentley^ the Revolutionary soldier, and the eleventh child of Bathsheba 
Greene-Bentley, became the head of another numerous line by his daughter 
Sarah. A full and careful history of this branch is being prepared by Dr. 
Frank H. Titus, U. S. A. I shall give but two generations from Sarah, and 
leave fuller and meatier particulars to him. 

Sarah Bentley^ was married (probably in N. Y.) to Daniel Coryell. Her 
descendants still show one trait of Greene inheritance, one-sixth more sons 
being born to them than daiighters. 

Rachel, Sarah's oldest daughter, m. James Van Gorder, said to have 
been of a family originally from New Jersey. They had i daughter and 4 
sons. Of these Sarah m. Matthew Neary and had 9 children. Henr}' m. 
Polly Shumway and had 2 daughters, and Louis m. Eliza Wilson and had 
3 children. 



^be (Brecne Jfamil^ 73 

Michael Cor^-ell, Sarah's oldest son, m. Lydia Titus. They had 7 child- 
ren. Of these Clarissa Ann m. Samuel Wallace, and had 3 children, and many 
grand-children ; Matilda m. John Miller, and had 3 children and 24 grand- 
children ; Samuel m. Esther Schofield and was the father of 4 children ; 
Lydia m. George ]\lcNaughton, and was the mother of 5 sons and 3 daughters. 

Sarah's next two sons, James' and Hiram CoryelF, married respectively 
Ellen Wolf and Amanda Colegrove. To the latter was born 2 daughters. 
Jane Coryell", by her first husband, Horace Hungerford, had a daugh- 
ter, Lucinda. Susan Coryell" m. Henry Hungerford, and had 5 sons and i 
daughter. Of Susan's children, James Hungerford" m. twice and had three 
children, and Julia A. Hungerford* m. twice, and had Lellie Nourse and 
George Flower, one b\' each husband. Daniel CoryelF m. Eliza Wood, and 
had 4 sons and i daughter. 

Clarissa Coryell", 7th. child of Sarah Bentley-Coryell, and great-grand- 
dauofhter of Bathsheba Greene-Bentlev^ married Samuel Titus. Thev had 
II children, 7 sons and two daughters. Of these, Daniel^ m. Eulalia Dodge, 
and had 5 sons and 3 daughters. Polly- m, Eli Shope and had 3 children. 
Greene Bentley'^ m. twice, and had 3 sons and i daughter. Jane* m. John 
Wigley and had 4 children by him. She then married Peter jMagnet and had 
4 more children. John- m. IMary Waldron and became the father of a dozen 
children. 

]\lajor Arthur Titus*, was the fourth son of Clarissa Coryell" and Samuel 
Titus. He is a physician, and in the Civil War was ]\Iajor and Regimental 
Surgeon in the istW. Va. Cavalry. He married Sophia Chabot. They had 
Frank, Samuel and Hattie. ' 

Dr. Frank H. Titus'^ followed in his father's footsteps, and in the Spanish- 
American War was a j\Iajor and Brigade Surgeon. He is still connected wdth 
the Regular Army. He married Eouise C. King, and has a daughter Louise^**. 

(D.) Eunice*"', another daughter of Greene M. Bentley^, was the second 
of this family to marry a Bennett. Over 300 descendants belong to her line. 
These live mostly in Ohio and Kentucky. Dr. Titus intends to include this v^ 
line in his history' also. I shall not attempt to give it, 



CHAPTER XIII 

WEUTENANT JOHN GREENE'S LINE 

In Rhode Island they have a strong tradition that this man was not the 
son of John of Ouidnessett, or indeed at aU. John of London, as they call 
him, is held to have been John Clarke, a Regicide Judge who condemned 
Kino- Charles to death in 1649, ^^^^ ^'^'^^^ ^^^ ^^ America under the assumed 
named of Greene, and married Abigail Wardwell. Without stopping to ask 
how he came to give Greene names to his children, and how he came to ^ 
own land that had been the elder John Greene's, we can show the ground- 
lessness of the claim that he was John Clarke instead of John Greene, by 
comparing a few dates. 

To have been a Regicide Judge he would have been a middle-aged man 
in 1649, say 35 to 60. Now 19 year old Abigail married in 1684. He would 
have been 70 to 95 years old, a youthful bridegroom indeed ! He would 
have lived 45 years longer, as this John certainly died Oct. 6, 1729, by which 
time any of the Regicide Judges would have been 115 to 140 years old! 
The stoT}' is only a revamping of John of Ouidnessett's reminiscences of 
his ancestor, John the Fugitive, with just enough changes to localize it. See 
Chapter V, where the question is discussed at some length, 

John- is believed to have been born in 1645, '^^^^ birthdate of June 16, 
165 1, usually given as his being of John' of the Warwick line. He owned 
land with his father in 1666. But the land squabble so depreciated land that he 
became diso-usted and went to N. Y. with his brother Edward. Both were 
absent ^^'hen the land suit was compromised, in May 167 1. Edward re- 
mained away for 25 years or so. But John, being a bachelor, and foot-loose, 
appears to have been part of the time in R. I. and part of the time in N. Y. 
The Greenes were famous walkers. A 150 years later than this, it was 
nothing unusual for a Greene to walk from R. I. to N. Y. and back, merely 
to see the country, or to pay a visit. It is quite probable that John came 
back during the Indian disturbance of 1675-6. It is thought he earned his 
title of Lieut, in this King Philip's war. 

Lieut. John, on some of his visits, had had his portion of his father's 

7i 



Zbc Greene family? 






land set off to him. In March 1682, the elder John gave Benjamin, Daniel, 
and James their land, that joined the land already deeded to John. After his 
marriage in 1684, he decided to remain in R. I. However, when he moved 
to East Greenwich in 1685, and was enrolled as a freeman there, he was 
recorded even then as "Lieut. John Greene, Jr., of N. Y." 

In 1684, being then 39 years old, he married a JMassachusetts girl of 
less than half of his age, Abigail Wardwell. She was of the Lascelle- Ward- 
well family described in the Appendix. The love-smitten Lieutenant is sup- 
posed to have become accquainted with the young lady on the occasion of a 
visit paid by her to her many relatives, the Woddles (Wardwells), Pierces 
and Anthonys of Portsmouth, R. I. After her return to her home, at Ips- 
wich, each visit required a trip of 250 miles or so, if he went by ship around 
Cape Cod. If he rode across country, he had a journey of 75 miles, along 
the Pequot Path and through the gloomy forests and sparse settlements of 
Rhode Island and Massachusetts. 

A bachelor's courtship is proverbially an ardent one. Tradition tells us 
that after one of these lonely rides, he returned to Ouidnessett with a comely 
young woman riding on a pillion behind him. This was bride Abigail Ward- 
w^ell, or, as her intimates called her, Nabbie Woddle. Wardwell was a name 
that our ancestors pronounced a dozen different ways, but never by any 
chance as it was spelled. 

Of Abigail herself we know little. She was of mixed English- Welsh- 
French stock. ( William^ of Richard Wardwell, who married Meribe^ of 
Gershom Lascelle ; Lascelle Wardwell^, William WardwelP and Alice, emi- 
grants ; UseP, their son, born 1639, married in 1664 to widow^ Mary Kins- 
man-Ringe, and x\bigail, born Oct. 27, 1665.) The family had remarkable 
longevity. Her father, Usel, lived to be 93, and one of her sons lived 
to be 103. From the Huguenot side of the house came a brave, fearless, 
and venturesome disposition. They were a family of sailors, and those who 
remained on shore owmed many slaves. Her own father was a slave holder. 
Nevertheless they w^ere pious people. Probably from their Huguenot blood, 
they were a family that had a strong aversion to religions coercion or 
tyranny, Abigail's own grandfather had his freeman's privileges taken from 
him because he showed symj^athy with those banished for heresy. 

In 1685, soon after his marriage, Lieut. John moved to East Greenwich. 
Here he remained five years, and here two of his children, James and John, 
were born. In 1690 he moved to Coventry, built a sawmill which he is said to 
have put up with his own hands, and ran it there. He had been living there 
a couple of years when the word came that his wife's cousin had been 
hung in Massachusetts as a witch. Doubtless it was felt as a deep disgrace 
at the time. 



76 Zbe (Breene jfamil^ 

Lieut. John was what is known as forehanded. He purchased a large 
tract of land in the township of Coventry, which was afterwards divided into 
many farms. It was all forest-land. He built his house at the foot of Hark- 
ney Hill. 

Harkney Hill is a landmark. At one place there is a plain at the foot 
of the hill, watered by a small stream. Long before the white man's day 
this spot was a noted Indian camping place. A village of wigwams was 
usually sheltered under the great forest trees that stood on the banks of " the 
ringing brook," as a family poet phrases it. Greene cleared this land. After- 
wards he took it for a family burying ground, and several generations lie 
sleeping there. Some of the graves are unmarked, and some have only 
common field stone markers at head and foot. At this late day it can never 
be determined who all are buried there. If, as is often claimed. Old John of 
Ouidnessett spent his last days with his son John, he also lies there. This 
old, old burial place is even now known as the Old Field Cemetery. 

It was about a mile away from this clearing, where afterwards he was to 
lie, that Lieut. John built his cabin. It was built in what was called the 
meadows, which lay at the foot of another part of Harkney Hill. Pioneers 
care little for architecture. Any kind of a shack will do them, so that it 
will shelter them. Usually a plain box-like house of logs is built, contain- 
ing a single good-sized room, and a low loft above, reached by a steep 
ladder. As the family grows, a lean-to is built on, a summer kitchen added, 
rough porch and smoke-house built. The true pioneer was as happy in 
these narrow quarters as his favored sons in their i6-room mansions. It is 
all in the point of view. Well-to-do John and Abigail lived in that cabin 
the balance of their days. 

Lieut. John died Oct. 6, 1729, at the good old age of 84, His brother 
James died the year before, and his brother Daniel the year after. 

John and Abigail had 11 children, all of whom grew up. They were 
James, John, Jane, Usual, Ebenezer, Robert, William, Enfield, Mary, Han- 
nah and Andrew. There is no further record of William or Andrew. The 
other nine were married and became heads of families. 

The third child and oldest daughter was born at Coventry, Jan, 3. 1691. 
She was named Jane for her grandmother.* She married a man named Low. 
It was probably her daughter Alice who married Nathaniel Greene, in 1739, 
as Alice was a family name with the Ward wells. 

Enfield Greene was the eighth child and second daughter. She was 
married March 21, 17 19, to Samuel Cook. She evidently had much of her 



* John of Quid nessett's wife invariably signed her name Joan, but was always called Jane. Her 
namesakes were all called Jane. 



tTbe Greene family 77 

grandmother's sweet disposition, for her namesakes were plentiful for three 
generations in her brother's families. In those days a popular relative was 
always much named after. Mary, the third daughter, married John- 
son. No attempt is made to give the lines of these daughters. 

The remaining six children, James, John, Usual, Ebenezer, Robert and 
Hannah, became the heads of large families. Their lines will be next 
considered. 

Two of this family, Robert and Hannah, married Andrews, the first of 
almost numberless marriages between these two early Rhode Island lines. 
The in-and-in marrying, so characteristic of the Greenes, was well exampled. 
John and Usual married two sisters, Ann and Susannah Hill, their distant 
cousins on their mother's side. If Ebenezer's wife was a Pierce, as from 
various circumstances seems likely, his wife was also a distant cousin both 
to himself and to the two sisters-in-law just named. 



CHAPTER XIV 

LIEUT. JOHN GREENE OF COVENTRY'S EINE 
Descendants of James of Maroon Sivamp 

James^, [ Lieut. John-, John\ ] was born at East Greenwich, R. I., Aug. 
i8, 1685. He was the first-born of Lieutenant John and Abigail Wardwell- 
Greene. He was married December 18, 1717, to Rebecca Cahoon. He was 
32, she barely 15. They had seven children, six of whom certainly married. 
James died in 1771, at the age of 86, and his wife survived him. When 
she died in 1782, she divided the old homestead near Maroon Swamp by will 
among three of her six sons, James, Isaac and John. Lieut. John owned a 
large tract of land, all forest when he purchased it. This farm of his son 
James, near the Maroon Swamp, was part of the original tract. 

Rebecca Cahoon was the oldest daughter of Nathaniel Cahoon and his 
wife, Jane Jones, the daughter of Thomas Jones. Properly the name should 
have been spelled Colquhoun. The Colquhouns are an old Scottish family 
who pronounce their name Cahoon, but write it Colquhoun. The Colqu- 
houns had their own clan plaid, their clan pibroch or tune, and clan "flowers," 
the Bear-berry, Hazel and Dog-berry, a sprig of the foliage of which they 
wore in their "bonnets" in parades or in battle. And as might be expected, 
their descendants are also clannish in their ways. 

James and Rebecca had the usual Greene fortune, — more sons than 
daughters. Their children were : 

Nathaniel, born June 4, 1718. 

James, " Nov. 25, 1720. 

Wardwell, " Jan. 23, 1723. 

Isaac, " Nov. 6, 1724. 

Patienxe, " April 7, 1727. 

Charles, " 1729. 

Othniel. 

A wing of the Rebecca and Jane Greene- Andrews line claim these two 
women were also daughters of James and Rebecca Cahoon. If so, they must 
have been born after 1730. There is no official record of them. 

Of Othniel we have only the birth record. Two of the sons, James 

78 



Zbc (Brecne ffamtl^ 79 



and Wardwell, married cousins, two Greene girls. Nathaniel married Alice 
Low, who is supposed to have bee^ his ^unt Jane Greene-Low's daughter. 
So that half the family married relatives. Patience married Benjamin An- 
drews, Aug. 10, 1746. So far as can be traced, the descendants of Maroon 
Swamp James are as follows : 

" SQUIRE " NATHANIEL GREENE.' [James^ John-, John\] He 
was born June 4, 17 18, and died Sept. 2, 1809, in his 92nd year. He was 
usually called Esquire or Squire Nathaniel. He was married March 8, 
1739, in his 2ist year, to Alice Low, daughter of John Low. He married 
(2) Mary . 

Not far from where Lieut. John of Coventry had his unpretentious 
home, Squire Nathaniel built a gambrel-roofed house. This honse was in 
the meadow, and still standing not half a century ago. Some of the Squire's 
great-grandchildren were born there. He never recorded his family. All 
that we certainly know of his family by his first wife is that he had a daugh- 
ter Alice, (Alcy,) who married Jonathan Bennett, May 12, 1765. All that 
we know of his second family is that he had 

Nathaniel Greene, Jr.^ born June 27, 1765. Like his father, he lived to be old. dying 
April 1855. nearly go. He it was who built the Greene House upon Harkney Hill, a land- 
mark of the region. 

Nathaniel Jr. married his third cousin. Patience Matteson, still remembered as a sprightly 
little old lady, wearing a white lace cap. She was the daughter of Jonathan and Eliza- 
beth Matteson. [Jonathan* Martha Green-Matteson*, John Greene'"*, James^, John^. ] 
Throueh Martha Greene-Matteson, she was descended from Elder Obediah Holmes, who 
for his Baptist doctrines was so cruelly whipped by the Boston authorities (1651) 
that he could not stand. They had seven children. 

Paris M. Greene®. [Nath^, Nath*., James^., John-, John^] He was born July 
2, 1790, died Dec. 20, 1817. His first wife was Hannah, daughter of Joseph Wicks, 
and the second was her sister Elizabeth. 

Hannah Wicks Greene-Howard^ b. Jan. 12. 1812; d. July 26, 1877. She 
was named for her young mother, who died when she was four months old. 
Hannah married Ephraim Howard. See Chapter XXVH. 
Benjamin Greene', b. i8i4;d. 1832. 

Mary E. Greene-Weaver'. [Paris*, Nath'., Nath*., Jas^., John^, John^J She 
was born Sept. g, 1S15; d. Feb. 25, 1892. M. 1836 to Jason Weaver. They 
afterwards removed to Conn. They were much esteemed people. 

William P. Weaver**, b. Feb. 20, 1838. M. Angle Brown. They 
live in Canterbury, Conn. 

Lucius Edward Weaver*, b. Jan. 13, 1874, m. Ruth T. Champlin. 
They live in Willimantic, Conn. They have one daughter, 
Dons Lilian Champlin''. 
Mary Elizabeth Weaver-Potter®, b. Nov. 8, 1842 ; m. March 27, 1862, 
to George W. Potter. No children. She has been a widow since 1901. 
Edward Francis Weaver*, b. Sept. ig, 1851 ; m. Melissa M. Burgess- 
One son. 

Harry Francis Burgess^. 
Jennie Maria Weaver- Harris®, b. Dec 31, 1852 ; m. Lyman W. Har- 
ris. Is now a widow. One son living. 



8o XTbc 6recne J'anul^ 



Clarence Walter Harris®. 
George B. Weaver*, b. Jan 4, 1S55. Unmarried. Lives in Brooklyn, 
Conn. 

Alice Emma Weaver-Bass'^, b. Marcii 3, 1858 ; m. Edwin Bass in 
1886. No children. 
Paris Greene,^ b. 181 7 ; d. 1822. 

Aaron Greene'^. [Nathaniel^, Nathaniel*, James', John^ John^] He was born 
June 15, 1792, and died March 15, 1S41, aged 49 years. He was never married, 
but the bans of marriage had been published between he and Cynthia Johnson. She 
afterwards made her home with his father, as an own daughter would have done, and 
on the death of her betrothed's father and brother, she received a large sum of money 
in token of their appreciation of her homekeeping for them so many years. 

George W. Greene''', ne.xt brother to the above, b. Jan. 4 1794; d. Nov. 28,1878, 
in his 85th year, unmarried. He built a considerable addition to his father's house, 
and opened up a store in one wing and the basement. The innovation succeeded, 
and he amassed in this country store $60,000. He had a pride in the Greene family. 
He erected several monuments to forefathers of his line. 

Waterman Greene", [ Nathaniel^, Nathaniel*, James^, John^ John^. ] He died in 

Massachusetts, which had been his home for many years. He married Violata . 

Orris Greene'. 

Sarah Greene-Johnson*', sixth child of Nathaniel Jr., was born May 16, 1802, 
and died July 19, 1864. 

John Francis Johnson'' died in the Civil War, Aug. 22, 1863, in his 24th \-ear. 

Sybil Greene-Mi ller'^, next daughter of Nathaniel, Jr., m. to John P Miller of 
Coventry. No records. 

Damaris Greene-Greens:®, youngest daughter of Nathaniel, Jr., was born March 
2, 1807, and died Aug. 2, 1861. She married Lawton Greene, son of Elijah. 

Nathaniel C. Greene", b. in 1S41 ; d.; 1S64, in Andersonville Prison, Georgia, 
during the Civil War. 

JAMES GREENES [James', John", John\] Born Nov, 20, 1720. 
First wife was Mary, daughter of Increa.se Allen. Second wife and mother 
of his two youngest children was his second cousin. Humility Greene^ 
[Henry^, Benjamin^, John\] 

Increase Greene^, b. Aug. 30, 1740 ;m. Comfort Weaver. 

James Greene'', b. in 1742. 

Comfort Greene®, b. in 1765. 

Thomas Greene^, b. Nfarch 24, 1743 ; m. Sarah Corey. 
Matteson Greene®, b. March 25, 1772. 

Waity Greene-Cahoon', m. Wm. Gaboon, Jr. 
Wanton Greene', m. Susan A. Cornell. 
Jedediah Greene^, b. April 13, 1747 ; m. Waitstill Bates, 1769. 
Olive Greene-Potter'"', m. to William Potter. 
Rhoda Greene-King", m. to Randall King of Coventry. 
Jonathan Greene^^, b, Feb. 20, 1748; m. Lydia Nichols- 

Henry Greene*, b. July 28, 1754 ; m. Mercy Corey. Henry was a Revolutionary soldier. 
Job", 1778 ; Cyril", 1779; Spicer", 1781 ; Whipple", 1782 ; Cynthia", 1786 , Humility", 
1789. All that is known of them. 
Hannah Greene-Johnson," b. 1784; m. Reuben Johnson. 

Cynthia Johnson'. See paragraph of Aaron Greene. 
Rebecca Greene*, b. May 22, 1756. 

WARDWELL GREENES [James^ John-, John^] Born Jan. 23, 
1723; m. Oct. 7, 1748, to his 16-year old cousin Ann (Nancy) Greene*. 



^he (Brecne famine Si 



[Robert'^ Johii^, John'.] Their family was divided after the usual Greene 
proportion, six sons to two daughters. Catharine was born 1748 ; Edmund, 
May 12, 1752; Robert, Nov. 10, 1755; Ann, 1763; and Benjamite, March 
7,1771. No further records of these. * 

Waruwell GKEENE^ b. Sept, 2, 1760; m. Johnson. He lived to be go. Ward- 
well removed to Richland, N. Y. During the Revolutionary War he was shot through the 
neck and left for dead upon the field. The Captain sent men back after the body, and thev 
found him pressing each opening together with his hands, thus stanching the blood. When 

restored to his family, his Quaker mother said, " Thee should be thankful to the good 

Lord for the preservation of thy life." To which he replied, " Rather to the Captain 

and the volunteers who brought me away !" 

\''edare Greene^. A celebrated N. Y. lawyer in his day. 
R.ATHBUN Greene^, b. 1787. Married Feb. 25, 1810, to Jane, dau. of Capt. Samuel 
Millard. He moved with wife and 5 children to Otsego Co., N. Y. in 1820. They had 
13 children. I have these records. Wardweli, b. July 3, 1S12 ; Samuel, b. Jan. 9, 1814 ; 
Olive, 1S15 ;-i870 m. to Charles Georgia ; Hannah, m. Joseph Wilson ; John R. died in 
Brooklyn ; Job lived in N. Dakota ; Orpha ni. Benjamin Mackey ; George moved West ; 
Mary m. Chancellor Houghtaling, of Union, N. Y. Dexter died in Civil War ; Albert lived 
in Central N. Y. ; Eliza became the wife of Belden Allen. 

Almanzo Johnson Greene®, oldest son of Rathbun Greene, of above paragraph, 
was born April 1 8 10. His first wife was Vilette Johnson. They had 11 children, 
of whom the second is John W. Greene, M. D., who was born in 1836. 
James Greene®, b. April 25, 1768. 

Wardweli Greene' [ Jas.®, Wardwell^ Wardweli*, Jas^, John^ John.i] He 

m. (i) Eunice Short, and (2) Polly Peabody. All but Leland and Ann of his 

children were by the last wife. Wardweli lived at Farmington,Mich. II children. 

Leland, Ann, Emily, Wardweli, Sidney, Betsey, Maria, Seneca, and 

Helen, name records only. 

Lucinda Greene-Webster*^, m. G. Webster of Farmington, Mich. 
Jarvis Cireene,® leading citizen at Pontiac, Mich. 
Champlin Greene'.[ Jas®., Wardweli^, Wardweli*, Jas^, John-, John.'] He 
m. Fanny Hazen and lived at Farmington, Mich. His children were Warren, 
Marietta, Amanda, George W., Ann, Theodosia, Caroline and Edward 

Leland Greene", [ Jas.,® Wardweli^, Wardweli*, Jas^, John^, John'.] He m. 
Nancy Wilmarth. and lived at Farmington, Mich. His children were'Dexter, 
Adelia and Amelia, Wesley and Thomas. 

Luther Greene'. Brother to the above. He m. Mary Ann Lee. He also 
lived at Farmington, Mich. He had two children. Dr. Marshall and Caroline 
Greene. 

Calvin Greene,' brother to the preceeding. He m. Louise Baldwin. They 
had Addison, Ray, Mary, Lucy and Avis. 

Chauncey Greene', younger son of James®, of WardwelP, etc. Born about 
i3i6 ; m. Cornelia Henry. He was a well-known agricultural writer. There 
were four children, Florence, Edith, Ida and Meredith. 

COL. ISAAC GREENES [Jas^ John-, John\] Born Nov. 6, 1724; 
m. Mary Weaver in 1754. One child died young. Only birth records of 
Mehitable and Joseph. Abigail m. Oliver Wicks, and James m. Genevieve 
Case. One son alone leaves traceable line. 

Judge Benjamin Greene^ Born Feb., 1760 or 1764. Died Jan. 4, or Jan.' 14, 1842. 
(Records vary.) First wife, Sarah Brayton. By her he had Caleb, who m. Phebe Mat- 
teson, Hannah and Isaac. By second wife, Henriette, he had Sarah, Barbara and Hiram. 



82 ^be (Brcene family 



Hiram Greene®, son of Judge Benjamin and grandson of Col. Isaac. His first wife's 
only son died at manhood. His second wife was Abigail Johnson of Greene des- 
cent. [Abigail® Daniel*, Abigail Greene-Johnson*, Usal Greene^, John^ John^ ] By 
her he had Tryphena and Benjamin. Hiram died, aged but 23, though twice 
married and the father of three children. 

Tryphena Greene-Johnson', daughter of Hiram, m. her second cousin, Philip 
Johnson. [Philip', Philip®, Ezeldel*, Elizabeth Greene-Johnson*, Usal Greene^, 
John^, John^.] Their children have five strains of Greene blood. 
Harty Johnson-Whitford^, m. Carmi Whitford. 
Philip R. Johnson*. Has a son and a daughter. 

Tryphena Johnson-Howard^, m. George P. Howard. [George^, Han- 
nah W Greene-Howard', Paris M. Greene®. Nath. Jr.,* Nath*., Jasl, 
John-, Johni.] See Chapter XXVII. 

Edna Priscilla Johnson-Shippee*. wife of Henry Shippee, 
Patience Jane Johnson-Batty®, m. Lauriston Batty; d. in 1882. 
Zilpha Johnson-Foster*. 

CHARLES GREENE\ [Jas^ Johir, John\] Born July 28, 1729. 
Othniel Greene". 

Lois Greene,® b. 1770. 
Charles Greene*. This may possibly be a son of Othniel, but is thought to be his 
younger brother. 

Charles Greene®, b. Oct. 4, 1798. 

William Greene®, b. in 1799. 

Paul Allen Greene®, b. Oct. 26, 1808. 



I- 



CHAPTER XV 



-2V 



LIEUT. JOHN GREENE" S LINE 
Descendants of Wealthy Johi^ 

John Greene^, who is here designated as Wealthy John, was born in 
East Greenwich, April 9, 1688. He was the second son and child of Lieut. 
John- and Abigail Wardwell-Greene. Nov. 30, 17 13, when in his twenty- 
sixth year, he married Ann Nancy Hill. The knot was tied by John Spen- 
cer, Justice. Here the Puritan cropped to the surface. In rebelling against 
England's ecclesiasticism, the Puritans, almost to a man, refused to have a 
clergyman marry them, so insistent were the}' on an entire separation of 
church and state. The Quidnessett Greenes stuck to this rule until the 
Revolutionary War. 

Though his wife's name was always written as Ann, after the custom 
of the day, she was familiarly called Nancy. She was a distant cousin of 
her husband. She belonged to a branch of that ultra-Puritan family, the 
Lascelle-Wardwells, for a fuller account of which see Appendix. She was 
the daughter of Henry Hill, the first of his line in Rhode Island. [Richard 
Wardweir ; William-, m. to Meribe, dau. of Gershom Lascelle ; Rosanna 
Wardwell-Waite^ ; Mehitable Waite-HilP ; John' ; Jonathan'; Henry^; Ann-.] 

Wealthy John's pedigree on his mother's side ran thus : Richard 
WardwelP ; William-, who m. Meribe Lascelle ; Lascelle'^ ; William^ ; UsaP ; 
Abigail Wardwell-Greene*^ ; John''. So the children of John and Ann, 
(Nancy,) had two strains of this Lascelle-Wardwell blood, and a strain each 
of the Waite and Hill blood. 

It is known that Ann or Nancy Greene was extremely young at the 
time of her marriage, scarcely more than a child, in fact. Her life was not 
a bed of roses. She had eleven children in a little over sixteen years, and 
had the hardships of a half-settled country to endure in addition to that. 

We can imagine this busy Nancy caring for her brood of little ones. 
We can think of her washing and ironing, spinning, carding and weaving, 
milking and churning, scrubbing, soap-making, sewing, cooking and quilt- 

83 



84 XTbe (Breeite faintly 

ing, caring for her sick, and knitting stockings for her baker's dozen of peo- 
ple each year. A light dawns upon us then as to how the family superstition 
arose as to our Nancies always being over-crowded with Avork and responsi- 
bility, and how, stirring, bustling, and moving on, they always get through 
with it with great credit to themselves. This was the first Nancy among 
the Quidnessett Greenes. Doubtless, she was the t\'pical Nancy that the 
others are supposed to pattern after, — particularly so. after one or two of 
them happened to lead a life as strenuous and yet as successful as her own. 

Wealthy John knew well how to hold onto all that came into his hands. 
His wife, by her thrift and industry, helped him along. He went to West 
Greenwich, then rather a new region,* and opened up a large farm. Nancy 

(Ann) died, and he married ]Mary for his second wife. He himself 

died in the autumn of 1756, aged 68. Beside his land, and the two farms 
he gave his sons Silas and John, he left j^ersonal property that was inven- 
toried at ;^3,2i2, 5s., /d., or about $15,200. As the purchasing power of a 
dollar was as great as three or four dollars is nov/, such a sum was equal to 
about $50,000 at the present day. A plain farmer who possessed this much 
personal property, and land beside, was held in those days to be a very 
wealthy man indeed. 

There is a good deal in heredity. Nathan^, the youngest son of Wealthy 
John, had a son Jabez' who went to N. Y. and became the head of an im- 
portant line. It is safe to-say that there are more men of great wealth in 
the Jabez Greene line than in any other Greene branch whatever. 

The fifth child, Elizabeth, is supposed to have died young, as she is not 
mentioned in her father's will. Of the ten remaining children, three mar- 
ried Mattesons, for these two clannish families were particularly drawn to- 
gether. The oldest son, Silas, married Humility Greene, his second cousin, 
the granddaughter of his great-uncle, Benjamin. 

The descendants of Ann, Enfield, Silas, ]\Iary, John, Margaret, Timothy, 
Samuel, Esther and Nathan are as follows : 

ANN GREENE-NICHOLS^ She was the oldest child, and was born 
December i, 1714. She was married to John Nichols, Jr., March 22, 1733. 
The marriage must have been quite a family affair. Five years before, the 
young man's uncle, William Nichols, married Ann's aunt, Mary Hill ; a 
couple of years after that, his father's cousin, John Nichols, married Ann's 
aunt, Esther Hill ; some time after, his own cousin, Hannah Nichols, mar- 
ried Ann's nephew, Captain Ebenezer Hill. All of which transactions are 
a fair sample of the way early Rhode Island families are crossed and re- 
crossed with each other in marriage. 

* It was made iuto a town or township in 1741. 



^be (Breene famtlp 85 




ONE FOKM OF 

PHEOX OX 

ESCUTCHEON 



As many who read this are descended from this couple, the bride- 
groom's pedigree is given at some length. The family of Nichols descend 
from Nicholas, (or Nigell, or Nichol), de Albine. He came to England 
from Normandy, and was advanced into the favor of Edward the Confessor, 
1042-1066. He was the stem-father of this family. All the 
English Nicholses had a pheon as a device on their coat-of-arms. 
A pheon is the head of a javelin or dart ; it is called the Broad 
R, or broad arrow, because used to mark Crown property. 
Originally the king's sergeant-at-arms carried this device before 
his majesty in royal parades. By this it is supposed that an 
early ancestor, probably Robert Fitz-Nigell, son of Nicholas de 
Albine, and high in power, held this office under either William 
the Conqueror, or his son. There was a large and wealthy branch of the 
family in Glamorganshire, Wales, from which particular line John Nichols, 
Jr., was descended. He was fourth in descent from Hon. Thomas Nichols,* 
of Newport. Thomas came from Wales. He was married about 1569 to 
Hannah Griffin, born 1642. They came to Nev/port, where he became 
prominent. He is spoken of as having been Deputy f for twenty years, 
from 1678 to 1698. He was one of the 48 grantees to whom, in 1677, the 
township of East Greenwich was originally deeded. He died in 1708 
at East Greenwich. His sons were men of influence, Captain Benjamin 
being Deputy-Governor for some years, the highest office in the colony. 

The second son and third child of Hon. Thomas was " Aristocratic 
John," born April 16, 1666, and died 1725 at East Greenwich. The mother 
of his children was his first wife, Hannah Forman. His name frequently 
appears in the records. Evidently he was a stirring, energetic man. Tra- 
dition says he was a proud man, quite inclined to think himself above the 
common herd. His tastes were those of a gentleman. He possessed much 
land, and left personal property valued at £^'J2)-i us., ($2,850), equivalent to 
nearly $io,coo at the present day. This was esteemed a comfortable fortune 
in those days. His silver plate, pictures and books are spoken of as of some- 
thing considerable in the inventory, the silver plate alone being valued at 
;^55, 17s., 6d. 

His oldest son was John, 'born in 1689. His father left him one-fourth 
of his East Greenwich real estate. The oldest son of the third John was this 
John, who married Ann Greene, Family tradition asserts that he was fully 
as aristocratic as his grandfather, and that he liked to live in good style. 



* Additional Nichols matter was received after this chapter was in the publisher's hands. It will be 
found in Appendix. 

f Mitchell, in his History of Bridgewater, says this is the old term for a Representative to the Colonial 
Assembly. (Legislature.) 



86 ^hc (Brccne ffanul^ 



In fact, the whole line are what is known as " good livers." This John lived 
for a time at East Greenwich, then removed to Providence, it is said. He 
was miserably careless abont recording his children's names. There are 
three children supposed to have been his, though there is a certainty only as 
to two of them, Enfield and Job. 

EiNFiEi.D, born Marcli 4, 1734. 

Ann (Probably). Married about 1763. 

Job. He married Susanna King,* a daughter of that Huguenot couple, Magdalen and 

Marie La Valley-King. Her line is traced in Chapter XXH. 

It is strange how long a feeling of ill-will is handed down in old fami- 
lies. In 1687, a few years after East Greenwich was thrown open for settle- 
ment, a number of Huguenots fled from religious persecution in France, and 
came to R. I., settling at- what is now Frenchtown in the township of War- 
wick, which is not far from the East Greenwich line. Hay was a valuable 
commodity. Leading East Greenwich men, working in agreement with each 
other, put up large quantities of hay on the unfenced East Greenwich 
" meadows." The Frenchmen saw an opportunity to turn a pretty penny 
for themselves, so they began to cut and cure hay without leave or permis- 
sion from anyone. This provoked words and much wrangling. The quar- 
rel became too warm for the Deputy-Governor of the Colony, so it was re- 
ferred to the chief officer of the Crown in America, Governor Andros of 
IMassachusetts. Andros professed to be greatly moved by pity for the new- 
comers, who unless favored would doubtless suffer for necessities. But 
Andros was usually at loggerheads with the colonists, and there may have 
been some truth in what the colonists thought, that he sided against them 
to " even up " matters with them. 

Andros ordered two Justices of the Peace to divide the stacks of hay 
into two even lots. The one lot was given outright to the Frenchmen. The 
other was divided into eleven shares and given to eleven men. Among these 
were John Nichols, Giles Pierce, George Vaughan, John Andrews and John 
Sweet, with whose lines the Greenes afterward much intermarried. Aristo- 
cratic John was particularly angered at what he considered an outrage, and 
the very sight of a swarthy-faced Frenchman roused his ire. He passed his 
Frenchiphobia — to coin a word — on to his line. Great, therefore, was 
John's anger when his son Job fell in love with a black-eyed French girl, 
and married her. It is said that he never fully forgave his son, and never 
overcame his dislike to his foreign daughter-in-law. 

Job^ was as careless as his father in neglecting to record his family. 
We know that he lived in Providence, and that he had more than one son 



'■■ She was born in France, and named Suzanne, which in America became Anglicized intu Susannah 
and Susan. 



Zbe 6recne ifamili? 87 



in the Revolutionary War. He had a son John, and a daughter Ahnira, 
who died at 23. Beside these was a son David, born in 1763. David enlist- 
ed June 14, 1778, in Captain Philip Traffarn's company of Col. John Top- 
ham's regiment, and served as a bugler in the Revolutionary War. He was 
less than sixteen years of age. The company was disbanded March 16, 
1779, but he enlisted again. David married Nancy King. She was doubly 
related to him, being of Greene descent on her mother's side, and a niece of 
David's mother on the father's side. Part IH of this book is almost wholly 
taken up in tracing the descendants of this couple. To these chapters those 
interested are referred. 

ENFIELD GREENE-MATTESON.^ She was the second child of 
Wealthy John Greene. She was born March 31, 17 16, and was married to 
James j\Iatteson, March 3, 1738. He was the son of Capt. Henry, the son 
of Henry Matteson. Six and seven years later, Enfield's brother John and 
sister ^Margaret, married two Mattesons, sister and brother, who were niece 
and nephew of this James Matteson who married Enfield. Fully one-third 
of the Quidnessett Greenes have Matteson blood. The affinity of the two 
families for each other is something remarkable. The Mattesons have an 
old and romantic family history. It is given at length in the Appendix. 

James Matteson^ and his wife moved to Foster, R. I. They had these 
children, beside two who died in infancy : 

Uriah^, born Jan. 23, 1739. 
SlLAS^ b. Dec. 10, 1740. 
Ann®, b. Feb. 8, 1742. 
ENFiELD®,b. Sept. 23, 1750. 

SILAS GREENE* was born Sept. 29, 1717. He was the oldest son. 
He was married about 1743 to his second cousin, Humility Greene*, [Ben- 
jamin^, Benjamin^, John^] who was one year his senior. There has been 
great confusion in family biographies between this man's wife and the wife 
of his cousin James, [James'^, John", John'] whose wife was Humility Greene 
also. As accurate and painstaking histograj^her as Frank L. Greene, A. j\I,, 
savs that Silas married Humilitv, dauo-hter of Henrv Greene. 77m/ Humil- 
ity, on the contrary, married James, as his second wife. The two Humilities 
were the children of brothers, Henry and Benjamin, sons of Benjamin.' Each 
named a daughter after his mother, Humility Coggesh all-Greene. Benja- 
min's Humility was a few years the elder. Her father's home was in West- 
erly. When James Greene took his second wife, to show certainly which 
Humility he married, it was added on the records, " of West Greenwich." 
West Greenwich was the home of Henry Greene, and therefore Silas married 
the other Humility. Beside, James was not born until near the close of 
1720. Had he married Benjamin's Humility she would have been between 
four and five years his senior, itself improbable. 



88 Zhc 6reene ffamlh} 

Obediah^, b. 1744. 

Anne^, b. Aug. 6, 1745 ; m. Jan. 24, 1768, to Joseph King of Coventry. 

Elizabeth^, b. 1746. 

Margaret^ 

Henry^ (?) Not on some lists. Doubtful if of this family, 

Mary^, b. March 17, 1751. Perhaps m Rufus Collins, 1771. 

MARY GREENE-JOHNSON.^ She was born Jan. 31, 1719, and m. 
Bartholomew Johnson, Jan. 14, 1741. No further trace of her line. 

JOHN GREENE.' He was born May 31, 1722. He m. Ruth Matte- 
son, the niece of his brother-in-law, James Matteson, in 1745. [Ruth', 
Henry^, Capt. Henry", Henry \] They had these children : 

Elizabeth^, b. Aug. 20, 1746. 

Caleb^, b. July 8, 1748; m. Mary . Lived in E. Greenwich. 

LuCY^, b June 28, 1750; m. Stephen liriggs, 1767. 

Gilas*, b. July 26, 1752. 

FEAR^ b. Oct. 2. 1754. 

John*, b. Dec. 17, 1756; m. Catherine . 

Clarke^, b. Jan. 31, 1759. 

MARGARET GREENE-MATTESON*. She was born Jan. 27, 
1724, and was married to Henry Matteson of West Greenwich, in Sept., 
1743. He was a brother to her brother John's wife. Their children that 
lived were these : 

Rhod.a^ 

Caleb^, b. Sept. 2, i'75i. 

Joshua', b. Aug. 17, 1753. 

Fear^ 

James*, b July 20, 1757. 

Henry*, b. June 18, 1760. 

TIMOTHY GREENE'. He was born July 14, 1725 ; married Silence 

Burlingame, who in one record is called Mrs. Silence Burlingame, and was 

probably a young widow. He was well known, his fame continuing even 

until this day. He is usually spoken of as Elder Timothy., He was the 

first pastor of the famous Maple Root Six Principle Baptist Church, and 

served them from 1763 to 1770. He was married in West Greenwich, but 

resided mostly in Coventry. He died about 1780. His oldest son, Peleg, 

has been much confused with another Peleg Greene, born four years earlier, 

the son of George Greene, and grandson of Edward.^ A careful comparison 

of records convinces me that Timothy's son Peleg has the record here given : 

Peleg Greene*, b. April 1752; m. Freelove Crawford in 1779. Had these children: Rus- 
sell, x\llen, Ellen, Warren, Sarah, Peleg and Benjamin Franklin. Nothing of their lines is 

recorded, save that Sarah m. a Mr. Bill, and their daughter, Ann Eliza, m. Pulaski Greene, 
son of David. 

Enfield*, b. May 15, 1754. 

HuLDAH*, b. Dec. 21, 1757; m. Caleb Woodof Coventry, 1789. 

Levi*, b. June 6, 1759. He had 11 children. Huldah m. Godfrey Slocum; Fanny 

m. Orange Chaplain; Eunice m. David Crippin; Aurilla m. a Mr. Chappel; Sophia m. David 
Curtis; Emma m. Abner Beardsley; late in life, they moved to Minn., where she died; 



^be (Breenc jfamil^ 89 



Waterman died single; Horace m. Diantha Powell; Zephaniah m. Zerilla Gould; Speedy m. 
Gerothman McDonald and Laura m. Sheldon Wilcox. 

Mary^, b. May 5, 1760. Was possibly she who m. David Nicholas and had daughter.Pris- 
cilla, b. 1785. 

Silence^, b. April 14, 1762. 
Rowland^, b. April 12, 1766. 
Lester^, 
George®. 
Elizabeth^, b. May 9, 1768. 

SAMUEL GREENES He was born May 29, 1727. Probably it is 
he who m. Hannah Weaver of West Greenwich, March 31, 1751. 

ESTHER GREENE-WEEKS^ She probably m. John Weeks or 
Wicks, of W. Greenwich, Dec. 21, 1747. 

NATHAN GREENES He was born May 9, 1731 ; m. Huldah 
Bowen, Sept. 24, 1756. The name of Richard Bowen, (spelled in the old 
records Bowin, Bowyn, Bowyng, etc.,) has been borne in this same family 
since 1600. Several brothers, Richard, Thomas and Obediah, were early 
and leading residents of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. It is not clear which of 
these was the father of Richard'^, though his grandfather was certainly Rich- 
ard Bowen, Senior, who died in Feb., 1674. Richard Bowen^ was married 
to Mercy (Mercye) Titus, Jan. 9, 1783. The fifth child of this union was 
Jabez*, born Oct. 19, 1696. On the 30th of January, 17 18, he married 
Huldah Hunt, herself of the third generation of the Rehoboth Hunts. One 
of their daughters, Huldah Bowen^, married this Nathan Greene of Rhode 
Island. Evidently, she was exceedingly popular in her husband's family, 
as she had many namesakes. After her death her husband married Ruth 

and named the only child of this marriage Huldah, after the wife 

of his youth. Nathan had six children by his first wife, and one by the last. 

Esther^, b. 1756. 

BowEN^, b. 1758. Served as Revolutionary soldier, 1776, in Col. Topham's regiment. 

Chaffee^, b. 1760. Served in the Revolutionary W^ar, 1776, under Col. Topham. 

Jabez^, b. Dec. 14, 1762. Revo. sol. See paragraph below. 

Daniel^, b. 1765. 

Nathan^, b. March 4, 1768. 

Huldah^, born May 2, 1774 ; child of the last wife. 

Jabez^ became the head of a numerous, wealthy gnd important line. 
The history of this branch has been written by Myron W. Greene, himself 
a descendant of Jabez. Mr. Greene has given me full permission to use his 
work. I have therefore condensed it into a single chapter, and have made 
my own comments. But the data is nearly all Myron Greene's. 



CHAPTER XVI 

LINE OF JABEZ GREEN'^* 

FiftJi j'n Descent frovi John of Qindnessett 

And Jabez was more honorable than his brethren And Jabez called on the 

Lord of Israel, saying, ' O ! That Thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, 
and that Thy hand might be with nie, and that Thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it may 
not grieve me,' And God granted him that which he requested." 

— /. Chronicles, Chap. I]~, g-io v. 

The line of Jabez Green^ has held more public offices and acquired 
greater wealth than any other branch of the Ouidnessett Greenes. Jabez's 
descent was this : Nathan*, John'^, John", John\ The particulars of his de- 
scent are given in former chapters. Jabez'^ was the middle child in his 
father's family, Esther, Bowen and Chaffee being older, and Daniel, Nathan 
and Huldah, — the last a half-sister — being younger. He was born Dec. 
19, 1762. 

When the Revolutionary War was fairly begun this family of brothers 
were determined to take part in it. And the records show that in 1776, 
when Bowen, the oldest brother, was but 18, Chaffee but 16, and Jabez 
lacking a few months of 14, all three enlisted in Col. John Topham's regi- 
ment, in which were already nearly a dozen of their cousins. Bowen saw 
service for a time in Col. Lippitt's regiment also. The others remained " 
with their original brigade, which saw active service for several years. It - 
is ]3robable that Jabez, from his tender years, was at first a drummer boy or 
bugler, as boys under military age were accepted for this service. We know 
that two 3^ears later Jabez's own cousin, David Nichols, a lad of fifteen, 
joined this same Topham's regiment as a bugler, being considered too young ' 
to bear arms. 

This regiment saw hard service in the state of New York. It is a 
curious coincidence that, after the Revolutionan,^ War was over, one by one 
these cousins found their way back to N. Y., until by 1801, seven of th6 

-" Most of this braneb drop the final e. 

90 



^be (Brccne jramti^ 91 



dozen cousins in that regiment were living in the Empire State. The war 
seems to have led to a general upheaval and moving about. A large num- 
ber of R. I. people moved to IMassachusetts. About the close of the century 
a western fever struck them, and nearly all of them again moved on, this 
time to the state of New York. 

Jabez Green was one of this family colony. He lived for a time at 
Lanesborough, Berkshire County, Mass. He moved to Scipio, N, Y., in 
179S, with wife and seven children. His wife was Abigail Wilcox, whom 
he married October 7-, 1784. 

Jabez acquired a large amount of land, and in the half of a dozen years 
that he lived in his new home he had already become a well-kiiown citizen. 
He was the Crier of the U. S. District Court at Aurora, N. Y., and was there 
in the discharge of his duties when he died suddenly at Court, Sept. 19, 
1804, in his forty-second year. He left his widow with eight children, the 
youngest a baby five months old. She was a mother that looked well after 
her children's interests, and she gave them a superior education for that 
time and age. 

There had been nine children born to Jabez and Abigail, but Esther 
died young, and Sarah died in 18 14 at the age of twenty-six. Nathaniel*^, 
the oldest son, born 1786, married Delia Greene of the Warwick line, but 
died childless at Rush, N. Y., in 1857^ The descendants of Jabez's line are 
therefore from one of the three brothers, Archibald Harper'', Abner'', or 
Nathan Green*', or from one of the three sisters, Huldah Green- West'', Laura 
Green-Brainard'', or Jerusha Green-Green'l Three of the seven children 
who lived to marry, Nathaniel, Nathan and Jerusha, married a brother and 
two sisters, Delia, Maria and John Green, who were of the Warwick 
Greene line. 

HULDAH GREEN-WEST". [Jabez^ Nathan*, John^ John^, John\] 
She was born Feb. 8, 1791, and was married in her twenty-seventh year to 
Pelatiah West, Nov. 27, 181 7. She died May 23, 1867. To her were born 
nine children. She lost two children in infancy, both named Edgar Nathan- 
iel. Three adult children, Samuel Shepherd, Ira Brainard and George 
Peletiah, died single at various ages from nineteen to forty-three. Another 
daughter, Abigail Maria West', born March 11, 1827, became a foreign mis- 
sionary. At twenty-six she went to Constantinople, Turke}^, and became 
the Principal of a missionary boarding and training school for Armenian 
girls. For thirty-five years she was either m the active missionary work in 
Turkey and Armenia, or traveling in the interest of missions in England 
and America. She returned from the mission field in 1888. Miss West 
wrote much on missionary themes. Her "Romance of Missions" passed 
through many editions. She died June 21, 1894. 



92 Ebe 6recnc jfainil^ 



Henry Tracy West", [Huldah^, Jabez^, Nathan*, John^, John^, John\] the only son of 
Huldah Green-West that lived to marry, was born Oct. 17, 1824, in Rochester, N. Y. He 
early began a stirring career, having taught in both the public schools and the academy at 
Palmyra, N. Y., before his marriage, and he was not yet 21 when, oil June 10, 1S45, he 
married Mary Olivia Sears, the daughter of Rev. John Sears. The next day the youthful 
couple started for Lake Co., Illinois, where for a time he divided his time between farming 
and teaching. Then he engaged in the drug business, living in different states, and rising 
until he was the general western agent for several patent medicine firms, and lastly one of 
the firm of wholesale druggists, Burnhams & Van Schaack, of Chicago. 

He went to Colorado in J 870, as one of the Committee which located the city of Greeley 
for the Union Colony of Colorado. He was first Secretary, and then President of the Col- 
ony, and started the first bank in Greeley. In 1878 his fortune was swept away by an un- 
fortunate coal-mining investment. He again worked his way up, only to lose all fourteen 
years later by the failure of a company in which he had invested. For the third time he 
began at the foot of the ladder, taking up book-keeping, insurance, etc., with the zeal of 
a young man. i\Ir. West has risen to very high rank in the Masonic order. He joined the 
order in 1851, and rose to be a Knight Templar, having filled no less than thirty-one 
distinct offices in that time, including that of Grand High Priest, Eminent Commander, and 
Captain General. 

Henry T. and Mary O. West had five children, of whom Walter and an infant son are 
dead. Their other children are these : 

George Henry West^, b. Jan. 29, 1850. He has been m. twice. The first wife was 
Mary Caroline Wheeler. He has been twice Mavor of Greeley and is the Secretary of 
The Colorado Farm and Live Stock Company, an important business firm of Denver, 
Colorado. His children were all born in Greeley. 
Edna Wheeler West^, b. Feb. 15, 1873. 
Amy Treadwell West", 1S76-1S89. 
George Henry West^, 1878-1879. 
Olive Caroline West^, b. Nov. 14, 1882. 
Paul Sears West^, b. July 26, 1885. 
John Roylance West^ b. Sept. 29, 1888. 
Lina M. West-Gipson^, b. Aug. 20, 1852. She m. Albert E Gipson, of Cald- 
well, Idaho. He is now the publisher of the Gem State Rural. He is Secretary of 
the State Board of Horticulture, and was formerly a prominent attorney. Their 
children are 

Mary Florence L. Gipson-Stalker*, wife of Dr. W. C. Stalker. 
Albert W. Gipson^ 
Ruth Gipson^. 
Lawrence H. Gipson®. 
Alice Gipson®. 
James H. Gipson®. 
Margaret Gipson®. 
Edgar V. Gipson®. 
Harry T. West*, b. Dec. 18, 1857, in Kenosha, Wis. He was a lumber and com- 
mission merchant of Denver, Col. 
Sarah Eliz.a.beth West-Grassie', [Huldah'', Jabez^, Nathan*, John^, John^, John^] 
She was born April, 27, 1829. She was a Foreign Missionary for seven years, returning 
in 1862. The ne.xt year she married Rev. William Grassie, D. D. Their home is in Mead- 

ville, Pa. 

Jessie Duncan Grassie®, b. June 15, 1864. 
Edna Maria Grassie®, b Sept. 3, 1867, d. July 31, 1870. 
Annie Eaton Grassie®, b. July 23, 1869, d. Sept. 20, 1887. 

William Schauffler Grassie®, b. Jan. 28, 1872, m. Katherine Mellinger, Sept. I2, 
1899. They have Sara Fearnis and Marie Mellinger. 




HENRY T. WEST 



Zbc (Brcene family 93 



ARCHIBALD HARPER GREENE [Jabez^ Nathan\ Jolin\ John^ 
John^] He was born May 31, 1794, in N. Y. He married (i) Esther 
Tupper, Jan. 16, 1818. She was the mother of his children. She died in 
1830, and the next year he married Ehiora Parker. He moved to Michigan 
in 1828, and died at Adrian, in that state, April 7, 1887, aged 93 years. 
Farmer, blacksmith and insurance agent. He was a strong Abolitionist, 
associating himself with sncli anti-slavery leaders as Gerrit Smith, Wendell 
Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison. He had three children : 

Betsey Ann Green'. She was born Nov. 17, 1S18. She m. (i) Norman Rowley, 
Dec. 29, 1836 ; (2) Benjamin Weldon, in 1855 ; (3) William D. Conat, in 1868. She 
had five children, all but one by the first husband. 

John Topper Rowley^, b. June 5, 1838 

Esther Anna Rowley*, b. Dec. 9, 1840. 

Sarah Hannah Rowley*, b. Feb. 11, 1S44 

Alfred Brainard Rowley*, b. April 17, 1S54 ; d. 1S54. 

Albert C. Weldon*, b. Sept. 7, 1856. Is living at Ransom City, Dakota. 

Helen x\ntionette Green Smith". [Archibald Harper^, Jabez^, Nathan*, John^, 
John^, John^.] She was born Oct, 12, 1823. Married Nathan Smith in 1842. They have 
two children ; 

Alfred N. Smith*, b. June 22, 1843 ; d. 1863. 
Elmer D. Smith*, b. Nov. 20, 1854 ; m. Carrie L. Bailey, 1886. 
John West Green''. [Archibald Harper^, Jabez^, Nathan*, John^, John^, John^] 
He was born April g, 1S28, at Rush, N. Y M. Helen D. Moore, Oct. 22, 1854. He 
led a life of much responsibility. His fidelity to every trust, and the absolute integrity of 
his life, left a record of which any man might be proud. He had the courage of his con- 
victions and dared to be an out-spoken anti-slavery man and at a time when it cost some- 
thing to take such a stand, 

John West Green lived in Michigan, Tenn., Washington, D. C. and California. He was 
successively clerk, telegraph operator, book-keeper, business manager of a city paper, and 
rail-road constructoi:^ all in the space of 13 years. Then in 1862 he accepted a position in 
the Post Office Department, Washington, D. C. Soon after he was appointed to a position 
in the Treasury Department, where he remained nine years. Secretary of the Treasury, 
John Sherman, paid him the high compliment of appointing him, in 1877, one of the three 
Commissioners to go to England in charge of $18,950,000. in U. S. bonds to be refunded 
by the Rothschilds. Afterwards, he was made Chief Inspector of the P. O. Department. 
In all he served continuously 21 years in trusted government positions. After removing to 
California, he was for a time Cashier of the Southern Pacific R. R. He was twice appoint- 
ed Postmaster of the city of Los Angeles, dying in office, Aug. 3, 1891. To him and his 
wife was born one son 

Charles Earnest Green*, b, Oct. 31, 1S55. He is m. to Mary Elizabeth Eldridge, 
daughter of John Oscar and Elizabeth Risdon Eldridge, of Springfield, Mass. He 
was connected with the Southern and Central Pacific Railroad Companies of Cali- 
fornia in various capacities, from 1875 to 1898. At present he is the Manager of 
the Crocker Estate Company and Vice-President of the Crocker-Woolworth Nation- 
al Bank of San Francisco. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, being a 
Knight Templar and 33° Scottish Rite Mason. He has the usual Greene luck, his 
children being sons. 

Eldridge Green^ b. Nov. 3, 18S3. 
Allan Lee Green^, b. Jan. 14, 1S86. 
Charles Arthur Greea^ b. July 16, 1887. 



94 



Ilbe (Brcene jFantil^ 



LAURA M. GREEN-BRAINARD". [Jabez\ Nathan*, Joliii^ Jolin^ 

John\] She was born Aug. 14, 1796, and married to Hezekiah Brainard in 

1820. She died in 1835, aged 39 years, and was buried at Rush, N. Y. 

Orrin Nathan Brainard^, b. 1821 ; lives at Carbondale, Illinois, 
Augustus Brockway Brainard', b. 1S24 ; lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 
BvRON Strong Brainard', b. Aug. 31, 1826 ; lives in Ogden, Utah. 

ABNER GREENE [Jabez^ Nathan^ John', John", John\] He was 

born in Eanesborough, Mass., Sept. 17, 
1798. Came as a babe to N. Y., where 
he lived and died. March 27, 1825, ^^^ 
married Nancy Ketchum. He was a 
strong, robust man, and lived to his 94th 
year, dying April 17, 1892. 

iVbner Green was every inch a typi- 
cal Greene. He had the square, heavy- 
set frame, the broad forehead and kindly 
mouth of the family. He was a farmer, 
and a liberal supporter of what he es- 
teemed worthy enterprises. He con- 
tributed toward the endowment of the 
Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in 1832, 
not waiting, as some rich men do, to 
will away in gifts what they can no 
longer use. Of his seven children, Henry 
Granville and Abner Baxter died in 
early childhood, and a daughter, Ellen L., died in her 20th year. The fam- 
ilies of the other four children are as follows : 

Mortimer H. Green', [Abner®, Jabez^, Nathan*, John^, John^ John^ ] B. March 7, 
1826. He m. Ellen M. Flinn, Jan. 6, 1848. He was successively farmer, postmaster and 
banker. He died Sept. 14, 1879, and was buried at Rush, N. Y. 

Azalia Ethel wyn Green-Weaver^, b Nov. 25, 1848 ; m. Lucius E. Weaver Dec. 
13, 1871. 

Paul Weaver^, b. May 8, J 873. 
Margaret Ethelwyn Weaver^, b. April 16, 1877. 
Abner Green*, d. young. 

Marion Keeler Green-Peet^, b. Dec. 6, 1856 ; m. to James Clinton Peet, Jan. 14, 
1880. 

Mortimer Silas Peet«, b May 15, 1881. 
Azalia Emma Peet^, b. Sept. 3, 18S7. 
Nelson Rusk Peet^, b. May 17, 1889. 
Aurora Matilda Green-Baldwin®, b. Jan. 30, i860; m. to Le Grand M. Baldwin, 
Dec. 15, 18S4. 

Pierre Baldwin^, b. Jan. 4, 1886. 
Myron Harley Baldwin®, b. April 23, 1889. 
Marvin Jabez Green', [Abner^ Jabez^, Nathan*, John^, John^ John^] born Jan. il, 
1829, at Brighton, N. Y. He married Cornelia Gillman, Dec. 28, 1853. He was a banker 




ABXER GREEN 



■n:;- -"-:■ ;■%>!. 




96 Zbc 6reene jfaiiiUv' 



e 



in Cuba, N. Y. , at the breaking out of the Civil War. He entered the army, and becam 

First Paymaster. Afterwards he was appointed Brigade Commissary. .Vfter the war, he 

was engaged in the banking business at Rochester until his death. May 22, 1870. Three 

children. 

Delfred Green®. Died young. 

Geraldine Green-Mudge®, b. Jan. 20, 1859 • ^^- to Charles Mu-dge, Dec. 13, 1883. 
Winifred l\Iudge», b. Nov. 17, 1884^ 
Helen Louise jNIudge^, b. Aug. 26, 1887. 
Geraldine Mudge^ b. Nov. 26, iSSS. 
William .Sprague Green*, b. Oct. 31, 1861 ; m. Virginia Reynolds, April 24, 1883. 
He is a farmer. 

Edward Randolph Green'', b. May 30, 1884, at Sodus, N. Y. 
Mary E. Green-Brown", [Abner^, Jabez^, Nathan*, John'', John^. Jonn^] She was 
born Dec. i, 1830, and was married to James Douglas Brown, Dec. 16, 1858. Her husband 
is a lawyer, and their home is in Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Ellen Ethlyn Brown*^, b. and d. in i860. 

Ba.Kter Lamont Brown®, b. Jan. 20, 1864, m. Cora Covvgill, Feb. 26, 1S89. He 
is a Civil Engineer, and lives at Pinevilie, Kentucky. 

Clarence Cowgiil Brown^. b. Nov. 24, 1889, in Lawrence, Kansas 
Maritza Brown**, b. Jan. 17, 1875. 
Charles A. Green', [Abner^, Jabez^, Nathan*, John^, John^, John^.] He was the 
youngest child of Abner Green, and was born in Rush, N. Y., Aug. i, 1843. He married 
Jennie C. Hale, of Rochester, N, Y., on Sept. 3, 1S73. He was v.ith his brother Marvin 
Jabez in a bank in Cuba, N. Y., until the dark days of the Civil War, during which time he 
became a Commissary clerk at Washington, D. C. After the war he engaged in the banking 
business until the panic of 1873 compelled him to suspend. It was a fortunate thing for 
him. He had inherited that seven-centuries love of the Greenes for horticultural and land- 
scape art, for trees and fruit and flowers ; for broad acres kept in apple-pie trim, and for 
a park-like setting about the home. He bought an old homestead at Clifton, N. Y.. and 
began farming, and the propagation of plants. He soon became one of tlie leading nursery- 
men of America. His firm is kno^^■n as the Green Nursery Co.. of Rochester, N. Y. He 
publishes Green's Fruit Grower, and has written several helpful hoiticultural works that 
have had a wide circulation. As an author his style is clear and unaffected, and he Is en- 
tirely free of the fault of writing over people's heads. The struggle of his first horticultural 
efforts is amusingly told in the book, — "How I Made the Old Farm Pay." He and his 
wife have three chrildren. 

Mildred E. Green-Burleigh*, wife of Robert E. Burleigh, b. Sep. 3, 1875. 
Onnolee M. Burleigh^, b. Aug. 22. 1899. 
Kenneth E. Burleigh^, b. Sep. 24, 1901. 
Robert Green Burleigh^, b. Sep. 21, 1903. 
Marion E. Green*, b. Jan. 24, 1S82 at Clifton. 
Marvin H. Green*, b. Aug. 8, 1884, " 

JERUSHA GREEN-GREEN". [Jabez^ Nathan^ JohnMohn-Jolin\] 
She was born Sept. 6, 1800, in Scipio, N. Y. She married her sister-in- 
law's brother, John Green, of Balston, N. Y. She died June 30, 1861. vShe 
had seven children, of whom all but the oldest died young. Jerusha\s hus- 
band is claimed to have belonged to the Warwick branch of the Greenes, 
and was therefore about her sixth cousin. 

James A. Green', b. Jan. 8, 1838, in Rush, N. Y. He m. (i) Susan Margaret Smith, 
in 1S60 ; (2) Kate Monroe of Toledo, Ohio, June i8, 1S84. He is proprietor of the Un- 
ion Transfer & Storage Co., Detroit, Michigan. 
Edith G. Green*, d. young. 
Vincent V. Green*, b. March 31, 1874. 




CHARLES A. GREEXE 



Publisher of "Greene's Fruit Grower," and author of 
various practical agricultural works 




Author of " Jabez Greene and His Descendants" 



tTbe (Breene jfamti^ 97 

NATHAN GREEN". [Jabez^ Nathan^ Jolin\ John^ Jolin^] He 
was born April 5, 1804, at Scipio, N. Y., but five montlis before his father's 
death. He married Maria Green of Balston, July i, 1827, making the 
third marriage between Jabez Green's children and that particular Balston 
family of Greenes. After her death he married Rachel Perry, of the cele- 
brated Perry family, from which came Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the 
hero of Lake Erie, and Commodore Mathew Perr^-, who unlocked the gates 
of Japan to the civilized world. Her father, Elnathan Perry, was in the 
Revolutionary War battles of Bennington, Saratoga, Monmouth, Trenton, 
Eutaw Springs and Yorktown, and was an e}'e-witness to the surrender of 
both Burgovne and Cornwallis. 

Nathan Green was a public-spirited man. He owned much land. He 
gave the building sites free for two schools and two churches, and in many 
other ways gave a helping hand to worthy causes. His family of six chil- 
dren, five sons and one daughter, all lived to beccme heads of families. 

Jonathan H. Green', [ Nathan^, Jabez^, Nathan*, John^, John-, John\ ] was born Sept. 
19, 1828. He m. Jane CorneHus, Oct. 17, 1849. He removed to Michigan, where for i3 years 
he filled various government positions, such as being Deputy Marshal, U. S. Court Bailiff, 
etc. He retired from active life in 1881. lias three children. 

Addie Green-Graves^, b. March 5, 1851 , m. to M. M. Graves, Dec. 29, 1870. 
Chauncey Graves', b. June 3, 1873. 
Mabel Graves', b. Sept. 11, 187-. 
Olive J. Graves', b. Jan. i, 1883. 
Alice Green-Barker*, b. May 14, 1856 ; m. to David Barker, Nov. i, 18S3. 
Anna E. Ijarker', b. March 26. 1887 ; d. 1889. 
Addie E. Barker', b. March 26, 18S7. 
Arthur C. Green*, b. May 21, 1864; m. Sarah Hunt of Macon, Michigan, Nov. 
19, 1885. He is a farmer, and lives at Adrian, Michigan. 
Florence E. Green', b. Feb. 13, 1888. 
Ira Wesley Greene', [Nathan**, Jabez", Nathan*, John^, John^. John^] He was born 
May 2, 1832, and has been twice married, (i) to Hester A. Ruliffson, Dec. 26, 1855 ; (2) 
to Ellen Maria Williams, Dec. 26, 1866. He was a banker for a time, then turned his 
attention to farming, and particularly to the growing of choice field seed crops. This is an 
important industry in the state of New York, as so many city seedsmen and florists must 
have their high grade seeds raised for them. Ira Wesley Greene had three children by each 
marriage. 

DeLos Ruliffson Greene*, b. Feb. 26, 1858, in Rush, N. Y. Married Ella Jane 
Colburn, 1882. He died Sept. 10, 18S7. He was a farmer and Superintendent of 
the State Experimental Station. 

Hattie Maria Greene*, b. Feb. 3, 1861. She is a graduate of Rochester City 
Hospital Training School. 

Myron Wesley Greene*, b. Nov. 26, 1864, at Rush. N. Y. He is a graduate of 
Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, 18S7, and Williams College, class of 1890. Myron 
W. m. Nancy Laura Lancaster, of Leadville, Col., April 27, 1900, and has two sons, 
Lancaster Myron, b. Feb. 21, 1901, and Norvin Ruliffson, b. Sept. 13, 1902, and a 
daughter, Zeta Priscilla Greene, born March 2, 1904. He is a private banker and 
dealer in government, municipal and corporation bonds, in Rochester, N. Y. 

Myron W. Greene is the author of " Jabez Greene and his Descendants," pub- 
lished in Jan. 1S91. It is a business man's book, short, to the point, and without 

8 



98 ^be 6reene ITainil^ 



clap-trap or spread-eagleism. He started out to tell who Jabez Greene's poster- 
ity are, where they live, and what they are doing. With a few exceptions, he is my 

authority for all statements made in this chapter. 
By his last wife, Ira Wesley Greene^ had these children : 

Chester Pollard Greene-, b. Nov. 4, i86g, m. Elizabeth Smith. 

Carrie E. Greene-Hawley^, b. June, 30, 1872, wife of H. Hawley. 

Albert Ira Greene^, b. Nov. 30, 1S74, 
Theodore De Los Green^ [Nathan*^, Jabez^, Nathan*, John^, John% John^.] He was 
born in Rush, N. Y., June 16, 1834, and married Eliza Harris, Oct. 24, i860. 

Leroy Homer Green-, b. Sept. 30, 1874 ; d. 189 — . 
Jerome Marion Green', [Nathan*", Jabez^, Nathan*, John^, John-, John^] He was 
born Jan. 23, 1841, and married Emiiy Barker, Oct. 15. 1863. He was a farmer at Adrian, 
Michigan. D. March 26, igoi. 

Carrie M. Green^, b. 1865 ; d. 1877. 
Horace M. Green', [Nathan^, Jabez', Nathan*, John^, John-, John^.] He was born 
Sept. 3, 1842, in Rush, N. Y. He married Julia H. Granger, Oct. 4. 1871. 

Florence Green*, b. Jan. 5, 1S73. 
Ellen O. E. Green-Darrohn', [Nathan^, Jabez^, Nathan*, John^, John^, John^] She 
was born Oct. 16, 1847, and married to Maurice R. Darrohn, Oct. 26, 1871. Seven children. 

Everett Green Darrohn", b. July 21, 1872. 

Perry Simpson Darrohn^, b. March 31, 1S74. 

Eva May Darrohn*, b. Nov. 9, 1875. 

Maurice Donald Darrohn*, b. Dec. 30, 1877. 

Joseph C. Darrohn*, b. March 31, 1879. 

Clara Ellen Darrohn*, b. April 24, 1883. 

Anna Mabel Darrohn*, b. Nov. 7, 1884. 



CHAPTER XVII 

LIEUT. JOHN- OF COVENTRY'S LINE 
Descendants of Usal^ Ebenezer and Robert Greene 

Usal Greene^ must have been sorry a thousand times that his great- 
great-great-great-grandfather was a Frenchman with a French name that 
English tongues could not speak. Old Gershom Lascelle's daughter must 
needs name her son Lascelle after her father. By the time this name had 
reached this Lascelle WardwelPs grandson, born on American soil in 1639, 
no pretence was made of retaining the old pronunciation. And, as the 
town recorders spelled "by ear," there arose that remarkable putting down 
of a name that caused Savage to annote it, " Usal, Usual, Uzal, Usewell, 
Uzell or other outlandish name." * 

Abigail Greene was the Massachusetts Usal's daughter,- and she had the 
temerity to name her third son after her father. I have retained the spell- 
ing of Usal or Usual, as the simplest form of the name. But R. I. records 
give it in these different ways : Usal, Uzal, Uzall, Youzell, Yousiel, and 
even Usualell ! This Usual of the unusual name led an unusually long life 
and left an unusually tangled family record behind him. His children's 
births are some of them given as at three different dates. He is said to have 
been 98 years, 100 or loi years, or 104, or as tradition says, no years old 
when he died. One writer puts his death on Oct. 14, 1794, one in 1795. 
But James N. Arnold in his Vital Records quotes a notice from a contem- 
poraneous R. I. newspaper at the time of his death, which states that " Usall 
Greene " died at Coventry, Oct. 24, 1797. His birth records show him to 
have been born Jan. 23, 1694, so that he was 103 years, 9 months and i day 
old at his death. The Wardwell blood ever showed in remarkable longevi- 
ty, but Usal Greene broke the record for the R. I. brarch of the family. 

Usal Greene spent his long life in Coventry. His first four children 
were recorded in Warwick. After the readjustment of the townships and 

* See Savage's Genealogical and Historical Dictionary of New England, 

99 



loo Zbc (Breene family 

the making of a new one, he recorded these same four children and two that 
were born afterwards, in Coventry. I have a third record that eives these 
same six children. These are the only authentic, at-the-time compiled re- 
cords, and only these six children are certainly his. There is a group of 
names, Timothy, Jonathan and Jane, that some authorities call Uzal's, but 
there are no official records for them. 

USUAL GREENES (Written also Usal, Yousiel and Youzel.) 
[Usa!^, John", John^] Born March 22, 1729, or March 22, 1730. He mar- 
ried a Conn, lady, Mrs. Martha Polit, Sept. 14, 1753. He lived in Coventry. 
He joined the 6-principle Baptist church of Maple Root in 1785. No other 
documentary record of him. 

HENRY GREENE'. Born Feb. 20, 1730, Feb. 20, 1731, or 1732. 
ABIGAIL GREENE-JOHNSONS [Usal\ John-, John\] She was 
born Feb. 9, 1732, Feb. 9, 1733 or 1734. According to official records she 
married Elisha Johnson, Jr., Nov., 1750. Private records give the name as 
Ezekiel, 

Daniel Johnson^. In two private records he is given, once as tlie son of Abigail, and 
once as her sister, Elizabeth Greene- Johnson's son. Probably Abigail's son. 

Abigail Johnson-Greene'', m. Hiram Greene®, [ Benjamin^, Isaac*, James^, John^, 
John^,] her third cousin. Line given in Chapter XIV. 

Ezekiel Johnson*". Perhaps he whom. Sarah Matteson, 1787. 
HuKiah lohnson®. 

ELIZABETH GREENE-JOHNSONS [UsaP, John-, JohnS] She 
was born Jan. 28, 1735, or Jan. 28, 1736. Almost certainly married Ezekiel 
Johnson, brother or cousin to Abigail Greene's husband. 

Ezekiel Johnson^, m. Ruth, daughter of Joseph Matteson. Had Phebe, Catherine, 
Ruth, Betsey, Nancy, Caleb, Philip, Rufus, Joseph and Ezekiel. 

Philip Johnson®, of above, m. Priscilla, daughter of David and Mary Greene- 
Nichols. Their children were : 

Hiram N. Johnson', b. Aug. 17, 1S08. 

Zina Johnson*. living in Pheni.K, R. I, 
Alexander Johnson', b. April 25, 1810. 
William G. Johnson', b. May, 1815. 
Caleb Johnson', b. Jan. 28, 1818. 

Philip Johnson', b. March 30, 1822. He m. Tryphena H. Greene, his 
second cousin. He is particularly versed in family history, and is considered 
good authoritv on disputed points. See Chapter XIV. 

ROBERT GREENES Born April 4, 1738. 
PHILIP GREENES Born May 24, or 26, 1740. 



Ebenezer Greene'^, [John-, John\] was the fifth child of Lieut. John 
Greene. He lived in Coventry. His wife's family is unknown, although 
certain considerations point to her having been a Pierce, and therefore a 
distant relative on his mother's side, as the Pierces were a branch of the 
Wardwells. He, too, is claimed as the father of Rebecca and Jane Greene- 



Zbc (Brccne J'ainil^ loi 



Andrews. His children are twice recorded, both in Warwick and Coventry. 
Two daughters are among the number, but no Jane nor Rebecca. He had 
six sons and two daughters. 

JOHN GREENES [Ebenezer^ John-, John\] He was born April 
15, 1732. Married Abigail . 

Daniel Greene^, b. Dec. 19, 1762 ; m. Lucenia Matteson, his third cousin. [Lucenia*^, 
Wm.^, Martha Green-Matteson*, John Greene^, James^, John^] 
Clark Greene^, m. Susannah Westcott. 

Lawton Greene^, m. Sarah A. Card. 

William Ray Greene*, in. Lilian Andrews. He is considered un- 
commonly well versed in family history. 
Wanton Greene^, (of Daniel, grandson of Ebenezer), m. Mercy Sweet, daughter of 
Burton and Rachel Matteson-Sweet. Burton Sweet was the grandson of the 
Huguenots of Chapter XXI, Magdalen and Marie La Valley-King. 

Ray Greene', m. Coggeshall. 

Laura Greene-Sweet*. Lives in Providence, R. I. 
Silas Greene^, (of John^ of Ebenezer^) 

EBENEZER GREENES [Ebenezerl John-, John\] Born Feb. 13, 
1737. Tradition says he was an old bachelor when he married. He pre- 
sented each of his namesakes with a solid silver spoon of dessert size, with 
the request that it be passed on to an Ebenezer among their sons. One of 
these spoons is now in the possession of his sister Olive's great-grandson, E. 
C. Pierce, of Wolcottville, Indiana. This is^ sujDposed to be the Ebenezer 
who m. Betsey Briggs and had 

Welthlan Greene^, b. either in Dec. 1791'or Sept. 16, 1792. The first date is proba- 
bly intended for his marriage date. 

Ebenezer Greene^. Married Sally Ann Vicl^ery. 5 children. 

ROBERT GREENE'. [Ebenezer^, John-, John\] Born April 14, 

1739. He married Welthian Greene, his Uncle Robert's youngest daughter, 

March 10, 1762. Had these children : 
Peleg Greene^, b. June 25, 1762. 
Mary Greene^, b. July 23, 1764. 
Audrey Greene^, b. Nov. i, 1766. 
Stephen C. Greene^, b. April 11, 1768. 
Job Greene^, b. June 15, 17 — . AL Ann Brown. Not on one record. 

Harriet Caroline Greene^, b. 1819. 
Enfield Greene^, b. June 25, 1742. 

EUSHA GREENE^ [Ebenezer^ John^ John\] Born March 24, 

or March 14 by another record, 1745. He married the widow Priscilla 

Matteson in 1775. 

Joseph Greene^, b. June 23, 1776. 

STEPHEN GREENE\ [Ebenezer^ John-, John\] Born April 6, 
1748. He served in the Revolutionary War, and in 1835 was yet alive. He 
lived near Centerville, where his family is buried. His daughter, Freelove, 
fell into the wheel-pit of the mill there and was drowned, March 6, 1839, 
aged 47 years. 



I02 ^be (3reenc ffantil^ 

Seneca Greene^, (probably,) b. Nov. 14, 1782. 
Augustus Greene^, (probably) ; m. Mary Andrews, 1806. 
Stephen Greene^, (probably) ; m. Mary Darish, 1816. 

OLIVE GREENE-PIERCE'. [Ebenezer^ John^ John\] She was 
l>orn July i, 1751. M. Samuel Pierce. Line traced in Chapter XXIV. 
JOSEPH GREENES Born April 29, 1755. 



Robert* Greenel [John", John'.] He was married Nov. 19, 1730, at 
East Greenwich, to Mary Andrews. He lived for a time in Coventry, but at 
the time of his second marriage was living in Canterbury. He had seven 
children by the first wife, and one by the last, who was Susannah White of 
Canterbury. One son died young. Of the twins, Robert and Andrew, 
horn 1734, and Persolloe and Mary, born in 1736 and 1739, we have birth 
records only. Of Benjamite, born Feb. 23, 1741, we have only the further 
notice that his wife's name was Sarah. The two remaining daughters both 
married cousins, as below : 

ANN GREENE-GREENE'. Born Feb. 5, 1732, m. her Uncle James' 
son, Ward well Greene. Her line is traced in Chapter XIV. Ann was a 
Quaker in faith. 

WELTHIAN GREENE-GREENE'. Daughter of Robert Greene by 
liis last wife, Susannah White. She married Robert, the son of her Uncle 
Ebenezer. See Robert. 



'Robert G-reene is frequently entered ou the records as Eobarth 



CHAPTER XVIII 

LINE OF LIEUT. JOHN GREENE OF COVENTRY 

Descendants oj HannaJi Greene— Andrews^ 

This chapter is a difficult one. In the main I follow Miss Hattie James' 
work, "The Andrews Genealogy." This lady inherited an aptitude for 
o^enealog-ical work from both her father and crrandmother. She was born in 
an Andrews community, and personally knew the half dozen old gentlemen 
of 85 and 90, who were looked up to as authority on the intricate family 
relationship. She interviewed all of these, solicited family records from 
branch after branch, and made a careful study of the old books and records. 
After years of labor and expense, just as she was getting it into shape for 
publication, grievous bodily affliction befell her. She finished it lying upon 
her back, and writing with benumbed, half-paralyzed hands. The Gleaner 
of Phenix, R. I., ran it as a serial for something over a year. A friend tells 
us that this invaluable work has netted its author not a penny. When her 
years of suffering are over, too late it will be realized by this family that a 
historian was in their midst, and they appreciated her not. 

Hannah, tenth child and fourth daughter of Lieut. John^ and Abigail 
Ward well-Greene, was born not far from 1706, and married about 1727. 
Her marriage is recorded in the town records, but is so illegibly written that 
the last name can hardly be deciphered. Huling and Arnold thought the 
name Arnold, but Miss James positively identifies her as the wife of John 
Andrews. 

The Andrews are an important R. I. family. The founder was John 
Andreus, variously called in his day, Andrace, McAndrews, McAndros, An- 
drus and Andrew. Originally froni Scotland, or of Scottish descent, he 
came to the New World for religious peace. He settled first at the Barba- 
does, then at Boston, and next at Cape Cod. Because of the ]\Iassachusetts 
authorities' rigid stand against heresy, he removed to Rhode Island, casting 
in his fortunes with old John Greene of Ouidnessett and his companions. 
He it was who testified after King Philip's war of seeing Chief Awashuwett 

103 



I04 ^^^ (Brcenc jfamil^ 

lay hands upon John Greene. He was one of the six with Greene, Capt. 
Fones and four others, to buy Fones' Purchase from the chief sachem of the 
Narragansetts in 1672. His son, John Andrews, Jun., was one of those con- 
cerned in the hay dispute with a band of Huguenot refugees, (spoken of in 
Chapter XV,) wdiich waxed so serious that Governor Andros had to decide it. 

The senior John Andrews had a son William^, and William^ had this 
son Johu^, who married Hannah Greenel John iVndrews^ was born March 
23, 1702. He died May 18, 1795, in his 94th year. He came from French- 
town, in Warwick, and settled in Conventry at Maple Root Plains. When 
the church was established that afterwards became known far and near as 
the celebrated Six Principle Baptist Church of Maple Root, he and his wife 
were among the charter members. They had four children. Anne, the 
oldest, became Mrs. Weaver, but died childless ; Hannah, the next child, 
never married. The two sons, Elnathan and William, married sisters, Jane 
and Rebecca Greene, their mother's nieces or great-nieces. We know no 
more of Hannah Greene-Andrews' life. 

There is a sharp dispute in the family as to whose line Jane and Re- 
becca Andrews belong. All agree that they were descended from Lieut. 
John Greene and his wife Abigail, that they were sisters, and that Jane was 
Elnathan's wife, and Rebecca was William's wife. UsaP, James^ and 
Ebenezer^, three sons of Lieut. John, are each claimed as their father, while 
yet another wing of the family holds their father was Squire Nathaniel 
Greene, the oldest son of James. Every one of these positions is vouched for 
by certain old heads, who claim to know the family from A to Z. 

Usal's claim is to be at once rejected. Jane was married in 1757, and 
Rebecca, by the latest, was married by the year after. Usal's youngest re- 
corded child was born in 1 740. Allowing two years between births, had 
these two children followed that son, they could have been but 15 and 14 at 
time of their marriages. Altogether improbable. 

Ebenezer and James each recorded their children, including daughters. 
The official records give neither a Jane nor a Rebecca among them. James' 
youngest recorded child was born after 1729. Ebenezer has a list of eight 
children, from 1732 to 1755. Those who think the daughters his, point to 
a gap of five years in one place between children's ages. That they are 
left out of the records is the hard thing to get over, with both the James 
and Ebenezer claim. NathanieP, son of James'^, was married early in 1739. 
He failed to record any of his children. If his oldest were these two daugh- 
ters, they could easily have been 17 and 16 at time of marriage. Young in- 
deed, but not unusual in those days. This claim has the least diliiculties, 
but it is least accepted by the family themselves. They were certainly 
grand-daughters or great-grand-daughters of Lieut. John, Miss James at 



^be (Brecne jfamil^ 105 



first thought the sisters were of the line of James. Afterwards, she placed 
them as of the line of Ebenezer, 

Elnathan Andrews^ was born on the same day as General Washington, 
Feb. 22, 1732. He was married at 25 to his cousin Jane Greene, June 21, 
1757. They went to housekeeping wdthin a quarter of a mile of his father's. 
They were parents of five children, Waity, Bethana, Timothy, John and 
Rebecca. Elnathan outlived Jane, and married a second wife, Mrs. Ezekiel 
Johnson. ]\Iiss James says Elnathan died June 20, 1824, i^ ^is 93rd year. 

William and Rebecca Andrews had twice as many children as the other 
family. They had James, William, Ellen, Abigail, Elnathan, Elcy (Alice), 
Hannah, Timothy, Rebecca and Isaac. 

These Andrews were all highly respected people. They were clannish 
in their ways and their marriages, and they are largely so to this day. A 
large proportion of the last five generations have belonged to the Six- 
Principle Baptist Church. This is a branch of the Church that is little 
known outside of Rhode Island. It takes its name because it claims to be 
founded on the first and second verses of the sixth chapter of Hebrews, and 
holds as cardinal doctrines the six principles there enumerated, viz. : repent- 
ance, faith, baptism, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal 
judgment.* 

In 1762 this Maple Root Church was organized with 26 members. A 
church was built in the country, in the middle of a sandy plain, where four 
highways met. It was about one-and-a- third miles from the Old Field Cem- 
etery, where slept Hannah Greene-Andrews' father and mother and kindred, 
and, as many think, old John of Ouidnessett himself. It was almost a fam- 
ily church, and as such remained, the Andrews name always predominating 
above all others. Its first pastor, 1 765-1770, was Rev. Timothy Greene, a 
nephew of Haunah Greene-iVndrew^s. 

This church of small beg^innines g-rew to have a continent-v/ide fame. 
It had, at one time, the largest membership of any country church in the 
United States, and at stated times has yet a congregation that any city 
church might be proud of. The first church building was outgrown, and 
sold in 1797. Elnathan Andrews gave a lot across the road from the old 
church, and donated timber for a new building. This church is as unlike 
an ordinary church building as can be imagined. There is no ornamenta- 
tion about it. It is built on the style of a plain tw^o-story dwelling house. 

By 1 82 1 the church had ^60 members! Elnathan Andrews, one of its 
first members 59 years before, and the donor of its church home, was yet 
living. Those were its palmy days. Afterwards branch churches were es- 

* The Six Principle Baptists claim to particularly represent the teachings of Eoger Williams. 



:c6 



tibe 6rcene ffanulp 




*^-A^* 






^V'/, 



Vi 






M^A.PL,E ROOT CHURCH, R. I. 

THE MOST FAMOUS COUNTRY CHURCH IN AJMERICA 

tablislied at other places that cut its membership down to its present num- 
ber, about 140 persons. But on the first Sunday in June it is the custom for 
historic old Maple Root Church to open wide its doors to its children far 
and near. On that day the crowd is so great that only the early comers can 
get within its walls. The pond where the converts are baptized is a half- 
mile away. There is always one special tune that is sung on the long march 
to the water, and there is one room on the Gorton place that for over 70 
years was used as a dressing room for those who were immersed. Incidents 
like these show that Rhode Island, as well as Connecticut, might have the 
name, " The land of steady habits." 

Before giving a synopsis of the branching out of these two families, a 
brief reference to the families with which they so much intermarried may be 
of interest. The Briggses were descended from John Briggs, who lived three 
miles from old John Greene of Quidnessett, and was one of old John's fol- 
lowers. Briggs was associated with Greene, John Andrews and tbree others 
in making the great Fornes' Purchase of land from the Chief, Awashuwett, 
in 1672, the year after the great land dispute was settled. Naturally, the 
intimacy of the fathers continued between the families. 



^be (Brcene family 107 

The Sweets were descended from John Sweet of Dedham, Mass., who 
went with Roger Williams to Providence in 1636. He died the next year, 
leaving a widow and two little sons, John and James. The year after this 
his widow married Ezekiel Holyman, who has gone down to fame as the 
man who performed the irregular baptism of Roger Williams, late in 1638. 
Williams came to believe only immersion was valid bajDtism. He could not 
get a clergyman to immerse him, so Ezekiel Holyman baptized him, and 
then Roger Williams turned immediately around and baptized Holyman, 
and after that the others, including Holyman's recent bride. The young 
Sweets were old enough to remember this scene, and doubtless it had its in- 
fluence in making the first generations of the family such strong Baptists. 
Those who intermarried with the Andrews were from John Sweetl 

As for the jNIattesons, who intermarried with the Andrews, as they did 
with the Greenes, their history is specially given in the Appendix Chapter. 

Elnathan Andrews' descendants are outlined as follows. For a fuller 
account I refer those interested to Miss James' "Andrews Genealogy." 

WAITY ANDREWS-GREENE'. M. Charles Greene, and died, 
leaving a son Charles. The next sister, Bethana, married the widower. No 
record of any children. 

TIMOTHY ANDREW^S'. B. Nov. 22, 1762. He married a distant 
cousin, Russelle ]\Iatteson. On her father's side she was of the James Greene 
line, [Russelle", William'', Martha Greene-Matteson^ John Greene", James", 
Jolin\] The mother was Sarah, daughter of Henry and Rachel Greene. 
Miss James speaks of Rachel as of the "same Greenes." Thus four strains 
of Quidnessett Greene blood flowed in their children's veins. Of their 12 
children, 11 married, and 5 of these married Sweets of Ea Valley-King 
descent. 

BiiTHANA Andrews-Sweet^, M. Caleb Sweet of Burton and Rachel Sweet. Line traced 
' in Magdalen King Chapter. 

Freelove AxDREWS-ViCKiiRY^. M.' Benjamin Vickery of Dighton. Mass. Those who 
continued the line were George Vickery, who m. Priscilla, dau. of Elijah Greene ; Sally, who 
m. Ebenezer, son of Ebenezer Greene ; and Miranda, who m. Varnum James Tefft. 

Peleg Andrews^. M. Mercy, dau. of Joseph and Elizabeth Greene-James. She was 
descended from the Warwick Greenes. 4 children. 

Jane Andrews-James-Waite'^. She first married her sister-in-law Mercy's brother. 
Perry Greene James. They had four children. She afterwards married Sheffield Waite, 
son of that Revolutionary patriot. Major Yelverton Waite. The Waites were a good family. 
Miss James gives a telling word picture of the old colonial home, the generous manner of 
living, and the courtly old people. Mrs. Waite was an expert in family genealogy. 

Phebe A. Tames--Sweet^ m. Abel M. Sweet, son of William. She died in Conn. 
Adeline Frances Sweet—Andrews'*, m. Thos. Tillinghast Andrews. Four 
children. 
Joseph James^ b. i8i2 ; d. 1872. M. Almira Kimball. Had Caroline, Sarah, 
Mary Ann, Henry M., Almira K., Anna J, and Cora P. 

Albert Greene James', b, July 21, 1819 ; m. Mary Ann Bowen, of Thomas and 



io8 Zbc (Brcene family 



Phebe Bowen. Nine children, Thomas Bowen, Phebe B., Mary Eliza, Harriet 
Frances, Charles Henry, Joseph, Frederick B., William Greene and John Walter 
James. 

Harriet Frances of the above is the Miss James who wrote the Andrews gen- 
ealogy. She was left a motherless girl while her younger brothers were small. She 
was ever after her father's housekeeper, and brought the younger ones up with faith- 
ful care. Though since 1888 an invalid, she has done good work with her pen, and 
her patience and cheerfulness have been the admiration of all. She has helped me 
much by personal notes. 

Maria James—Matteson', b. Sept. 27, 1822. M. Thomas of Rufus and Lucy Spink 
Matteson. Five children. 
Sallie Andrews-Sweet^, b. 1794, m. William, son of Burton and Rachel Sweet. Nine 
children. See Magdalen King Chapter. 

Ge(JRGE Andrews^, b. Aug. 7, 1797 ; m. Esther Barnes. D. in Noank, Conn., April 7, 
1872. Five children, Benjamin Franklin, Ezra Barnes, Sabrina E., Charles Beaumont and 
an unnamed infant. 

Matteson Andrews^ b. 1799; m. Lucy Sweet. D. in Natick, R. L, Jan. 27, 1852. 
Nine children, 

Jonathan Andrews^, b. Oct. 5, 1801 ; m. in 1825 to Roby Sweet of Burton and Rachel 
Sweet. He d. in Minnesota in 1868. These children : 

Burton Sweet Andrews', b. ]\Iay lo, 1S27, Living in Tennessee. M. Phebe 
Capwell. Children. 

Bethana Andrews-Pendleton', b. 1829; m. to Joseph Pendleton. Five children. 
Charles Waldo Andrews', b. May 31, 1837; m. Mary Eliza Hallida)'. Two sons, 
Walter C. and Jonathan J. 

Joanna Andrews— Williams', b. 1804 ; d. 1879. M. to Senaca Williams of Conn. 
Four children. 
John Andrews^, b. July 4. 1S06 ; m. Antha Sweet of William and Elcy (Alice,) Sweet. 
Antha was of La Valley-King descent, her grandmother being Sarah King. This has been 
a leading family. They have a John Andrews,' Branch reunion and clam-bake, each sum- 
mer. John and Antha had eleven children. For fuller particulars, see Miss James' Genea- 
logy. 

Timothy Andrews', b. Nov. 30, 1S23 ; m. Eunice, dau. of Asa Matteson. No 
children. 

William Andrews', b. 1S30 ; m, (i) Abbie Woodmansee, and_(2) Mystilla Tarbox. 
Eight children, Millard Fillmore, Mary Josephine and Abbie Frances, by the first 
wife ; and Edwin, Bernice, Edward, Mabel Devona, and Annice Maria, by the last 
wife. 

Elsie Andrews-Matteson', b. April 15, 1S32 ; m. in 1S47 to Deacon John iNLat- 
teson of Asa and Meribah Potter— Matteson. Like his wife, John Matteson had the 
blood of all the clan families, including La Valley and King descent. Of their nine 
children, one died young. Of the other eight, all but one married relatives, making 
a line so complex this chapter has not space to unfold it. It is probably the most 
tangled case of relationship in this book. The children who married are Elihu R., 
m. to Roby E. Andrews ; Phebe Josephine, wife of Oliver H. Greene ; Charles James, 
m.' to Mary Amanda Matteson ; Mary Jane, wife of Edward C Capwell; Eunice 
Margaret, m. to George. Warren Andrews ; John Titus, ,11. to Amanda M. Greene ; 
Cynthia Lily, wife of William Briggs ; and Clara L., the wife of John P. Per- 
kins. 

Mary Ann Andrews-Barber', m. to Samuel Hoxsie Barber. Children, Beethoven, 
Fernando A., Harriet T., and Mary A. 

Hon. J. Titus Andrews', b. July 31, 1836 ; m. in 185710 Mary Ann Sweet, dau. 
of Amos and Ruth Sweet. No children. He was state senator several years, and is 
a prominent man, 



I 



^be (Breene ffamilp 109 



Abbie Francis Andrews-Harrington'', m. to Job Whitman Harrington. Her 
children are Orville F , Antha Jane, Bernard Aliff, Edward B., and William Harris 
Harrington. 

John Francis Andrews'', b. May 21, 1845 ; m. Dec. 25, 1866, to Mary E. How- 
ard, dau. of Ephraim. Two children. Line given in Howard Chapter. 

Lois A. Andre\vs--Cahoon\ m. to Edward Cahoon. No children. 

Nelson Andrews'', m. Phebe E. Spencer. His son is Leon D. 

Frederick Tillinghast Andrews'', m. Clara J. Vaughn. No children. 

Jane Andrews--Briggs', m. to HaJsey James Briggs. Their children are Fred 

Delos, Frank Garfield and Arthur T. 

Nelson Andrews^ b. 180S ; d. 1882. M. Meribah W. Harrington. Boch were leaders 
in their community. Their children who grew up, were these : 

Thomas T. Andrews', b. 1836 ; d. 1870; m. Adeline Francis Sweet. Their children 
are Taney Grant, Hortense Virginia and Isabel Francis. 

Ebenezer Edwin Andrews', b. 1837 ; d. 1862 ; m. Maria Arnold. Had Henry 
Edgar and Elmer Andrews. 
George Jastrom Andrews", m Lucy Jane Matteson. No children. 

JOHN ANDREWS-' 1 [Elnatlian* and Jane\ John^ and Hannah^ 

REBECCA ANDREWS' / John Greene^ John Greene\] I have no 
records of either of these lines. 



William Andrews^ and his wife Rebecca Greene-Andrews had ten chil- 
dren. Their fourth and sixth children, Abigail Andrews-Mott and Elcy 
Andrews-Matteson, left no issue. Two of their sons, Elnathan and Timothy, 
died when young men. James, William, Ellen, Hannah, Isaac and Rebecca, 
each left families. 

JAMES ANDREWS-'. He married Elcy (Alice) Rice of Coventry. 
They had ten children. Their five younger children died young. 

Stephen Andrews*, m. Anice Spink. 9 children ; 62 grand-children. His sons were 
Perry, Sheffield, Benjamin, Stephen, James and Wheaton. Daughters were Mrs. Polly 
Greene, and Mrs. Mary Ann I'lace. 

Timothy Andrews*, m. Freelove Warner. One son, James, m. Eliza Clark. His dau. 
Cynthia m. Jeremiah Matteson. 

ZiLPHA Andrews-Sweet*, m. James W. Sweet. 

Abigail Sweet-Bentley-', m. Benj. Bentley. Had Allen, Albert and Andrew. 
Rev. Philip Sweet^ b. Sept. 28, 1811 ; d. June 13, 1897 ; m. Louise M. Colvin. 
He was considered one of the family authorities on their history, 
Philip Alien Sweet^, m. Julia Colvin. 

Josephine Sweet-Briggs', wife of Charles Briggs. Died at birth of 
her first child. 

Philip Sylvester Sweet", b. 1867. 
William Henry Sweet^, m. Margaret Kettelle. 

Henry Almon C. Sweet', b. 1869. 
Ellen Sweet-Battey*, m. to George W. Battey. 
Ellen Louise Battey", b. i86g. 
Henry Battey", b. 1870. 
Mary Ann Sweet', b. in 1822. 

James Wilber Sweet', m. Mercy Matteson. No. children. 
Elizabeth Andrews-Bartlett*, m. Seneca Bartlett. 4 children. 



no ^be (Brccne yamil^ 

HANNAH ANDREWS-FISm B. in 1763; d. 1853; m- Icliabod 
Fish. This was a large family, and one that has intermarried with all the 
clan families. Ichabod was of King-La Valley blood. I do not attempt to 
give them in full. Their sons were Joshua, Ichabod, George W. and Wil- 
son Fish. The daughters were Rebecca, who was (i) Mrs. Capwell, and 
(2) Mrs. Abel Matteson ; and Sarah, who became Mrs. Ebenezer Alatteson. 

ISAAC ANDREWS'. A twin of Rebecca. He married Remittie, or 
Submittie Matteson, the daughter of Joseph and Annis Blanchard-Matteson. 
Three of their children died young, and their daughter, ]\Irs. Rebecca Mat- 
teson, left no heirs. 

George Washington Andrews®, m. (i) Esther Barber, mother of his two older 

children ; (2) Mary Ann Essex. His daughters, Susan and Eliza, married, but left no 

children. 

Burrill Andrews^, m. Hannah Anstress Clark. Children were Esther, Devillan E., 

William Clark, John Hoxie, Amy, Mary Duritta, Hannah Almira, George Burrill, 

Oscar Oatley and Stephen Bowen Andrews. 

Esther Andrews-Fairman®, wife of Erastus D. Fairman. Five children. 

Hon. Isaac Clay Andrews*, b. 1832 ; d. 1897 ; m. Olive Miranda Whitman. He 

was a member of the State legislature, and a leading man in many ways. Had these 

children : Byron B., George, Stephen W., Mrs. Lidia Fish, Isaac Palmer and Eliphalet. 

Asher Robbins Andrews, m. Susan Ella Barber. Three children, Carlton, Mary and 

Susan. 

Richard William Andrews, m. Mary A. Burlingame. Had Elmer M., the present 

Superintendent of the Arkwright Mills. 

Hannah Andrews-Sweet®, b. 1804 ; d. 1S46. She m. William Chauncey Sweet, son 
of Rev. Fentacost Sweet. She died at birth of her second child. 

William Leon Sweet'', b. Jan. 16, 1844. He fitted himself for a physician, but 
but his health failing he became a druggist in Boston. He married a ^liss Ida 
Thayer. No children. He served in the Civil War, and was injured at Belle 
Plains, Ya. 

Hannah Sweet-Howard', b. Oct. 19, 1846. Before her marriage, she was for 
some years a graduate trained nurse. She married John W. Howard, July 12, 1887, 
and now resides near Washington, R. I. Mrs. Howard has been a tireless helper 
in collecting information for me, and also assisted Miss James in her genealogy. 
She takes a keen interest in matters historical, and possesses a ready pen, correspond- 
ing for the best papers in the state. See Ploward Chapter. 
William Andrews®, b. 1805 ; d. 1882 ; m. Diana Potter. Three children died un- 
married ; William, Jr. , and Ella Andrews-Carpenter died leaving no living issue. Mary 
Andrews Capwell, m. Beverly Capwell of Pa. Has William E., Harmon B.., Phebe (m. to 
Wm. Packard), Ella M., Clarence J., Diana, Blanche and Frank Capwell. 
Henry Potter Andrews, m. Bertha Weed. No children. 
Potter Robert Andrews®, b. in 1807 ; d. 1881 ; m. Ursula James. Six children 
lived to marry. Dyer Edward, Abbie Francis, Hannah M., Sarah A., Diana, and James A. 
Ann Maria Andrews-Matteson®, b. i8jo ; d. 1841 ; m to Philip, son of Peleg and 
Mary James-Matteson. See Appendix. 

David Matteson'' is her only living son. He m. Maryett Brown and now lives in 
Abilene, Kansas, where he and his sons are leading citizens. 

Charles David Matteson^, m. Frances A. Ethering. They have Carrie 
Maude, Alta May, Roy H. , Harry Ray, Ralph A. and Faye Bessie. 

Hattie Amelia Matteson-Laney^, b. 1865, m. Joseph Laney. They live in 
Kansas. Their children are Myrtle M., Leroy D., Stuart Everett, and lola E. 



Zhc (Brecne JTanm^ 



III 



William Avery Matteson^, b. 1871. 
Henry E. Matteson^ b. 1878. 
Nellie A. Matteson^, b. 1880. 
Isaac Weedon Andrews", m. Mary A. Hoxsie. 

Mary Eliza Andrews-Greene-Chaffee. She m. (i) Charles A. Greene, and had 
one child ; m. (2) George Chaffee, and had five children by him. 

REBECCA ANDREWS- WAITED Twin to Isaac. B. May 24, 1773; 
m. to Sheffield Waite, son of ^Nlajor Yelverton Waite. The Waites have a 
family tree of their own, of which they are justly proud. They are also of 
Lascelle descent. [Sheffield', Yelverton", Joseph', Joseph^, SamneP, Sam- 
ueh', Thonias\ third in descent from Gershom Lascelle.] See Appendix 
Chapter. Of this particular family it has been said, " No praise was too 
high for them, and none were more universally respected." After Rebec- 
ca's death her husband married Mrs. Jane Andrews-James, the first wife's 
cousin. 

Rebecca and Sheffield's children were Phebe, wife of Rev. Pardon Til- 
linghast, and mother of 1 3 children ; Stephen, with 2 children ; Zipporah, 
wife of Daniel Bowen, and mother of 1 1 children ; Sheffield, with 2 children; 
and ]\Iartha, wife of Resolved Harvey, with 2 children. 

Phebe®, wife of Rev. Pardon Tillinghast, had a daughter Phebe', who married Reynolds 
Waite. They had 

Reynolds L. Waited He m. Eunice Matteson, [Eunice®, Benoni^ David*, 
David^, Josialr, Henry\] whose grandmother, Dorcas Matteson, vi'as herself 
a Waite. 

Mabel E. A. Waite-0' Niel^. She was a teacher for some years in 

the Elmwood Grammar School of Providence, She was married Sept. i8, 
1902, to Mr. O'Neil of Providence, R.I. She has assisted this work 
by furnishing records and memoranda collected by her deceased aunt, 
Miss Dorcas Matteson. 



CHAPTER XIX 

DANIEL GREENE'S LINE 

Daniel Greene^ was the third or fourth son of John Greene of Ouidnes- 
sett and his wife Joan, If he was the third son, he was born about 1647 '■> 
if the fourth, about two years later. He is known to have been regarded as 
a substantial citizen ; yet the records of him are meager enough. After the 
older brothers had gone to N. Y., and several of the younger sons had shown 
a roving disposition, his old father came to consider him as his own right 
arm. With his brother Henry he became a freeman of R. I. Colony, May 
20, 1671, the day of the great compromise over the 12-year land suit of 
Ouidnessett. As soon as their father gave his allegiance, they followed his 
example. 

March 24, 1682, his father gave several of his children a deed to land. 
This land was part of the first John's Ouidnessett purchase, and to Daniel 
was given the home place of 120 acres. There was a clause in the deed, as 
there was in those of the others also, that he was to pay 30 shillings a year, 
as long as either of his j^arents lived. This is not far from $7.50, reckoned 
in our money. Its purchasing power, however, was several times greater 
then than now. These several small annuities, in that day of simple habits, 
and with their quiet tastes, sufficed doubtless to keep the old couple in 
spending money. 

Unquestionably, DanieP lived on at the old home with his father and 
mother. His mother may have died about the time he married, 1689. Old 
John is said to have spent the last years of his life at Coventry, with his son 
Lieut. John', and to have died there. 

Like so many of his family, Daniel was slow to marry, being 40 or 42 
years of age at the time. He was married July 16, 1689, to Rebecca Barrow. 
She is believed to have been related to Henry Barrow, the Martyr. 

The Puritans or Conereo-ationalists were called at first Brownists or 
Barrowists, after two of their first leaders. Henry Barrow, Barrowes or Bar- 
rowe, was an uncompromising foe to formality or ceremony in religious ser- 
vices. He published in London two books, in 1 590 and a little later. One 

112 



^be Greene JFamtlp 113 



was entitled "A Brief Disco verie of the False Church; as is the Mother, so 
is the Daughter." The other was " Platform which may serve as a Prepar- 
ation to drive way Prelatism," It served, however, to enrage the church 
authorities. He was arrested, tried for " writing and publishing sundry 
seditious books and pamphlets tending to the slander of the Queen and gov- 
ernment," and was executed at Tyburn, London, April 6, 1592, or as some 
say, 1593. Many of his congregation fled to Amsterdam, Holland, for safety. 
In 1616 some of his friends reorganized a church in the suburbs of London. 
In 1632 the government imprisoned 42 of this church for heresy. So op- 
pressive were the authorities that in 1634 no less than 30 of the church, in- 
cluding some of Barrow's own kindred, came to America. Rebecca was al- 
most certainly descended from this family. 

Daniel and Rebecca had 7 children, of whom two died while }'0ung. 
Daniel's will was proved June 9, 1730, so that he was 81 or 83 years of age 
at death. His wife survived him. He left his farm of 120 acres to Daniel, 
Jr. The rough and discolored headstones of this couple are still standing 
near Allen's Harbor, togther with another rude stone, marked I. G., which 
tradition says marks the grave of Joan Greene, capitals I and J being used 
interchangeably in those days. 

PELEG GREENES According to one account, oldest son, born in 

1690. ^Married Mary Pierce, Dec. 8, 171 5, in Kingstown. The records have 

been badly damaged by fire. As near as can be made out, there were Elisha, 

Lidye, Peleg, Mary, and twins. Phebe and Ann. Dates all burned. Mary, 

the wife, must have died, also one of the twins, as a little after, in the same 

book, three children are recorded to Peleg and Dinah Greene, viz. : 

Hope Greene*, b. May 22, 1725. 
Rachel Greene*, b. June 27, 1726. 
Ann Greene*, b Sept. 30, 172S. 

DANIEL GREENEl According to one account he was born Aug. 9, 
1690, and Peleg in 1692. I believe the true date is Oct. 8, 1692. He mar- 
ried Dec. 23, 1 721, when already something of a bachelor, his uncle Benja- 
min Greene's daughter, Catherinel The wife was born about 1700, and 
died about 1736. She was the mother of all of Daniel's children, Benjamin, 
Joshua, John (or Jonathan.) After Catherine's death Daniel married IMary 
Ralph. He was a stirring business man, and much esteemed, and added 
largely to his estate. His will was proven July 24, 1770. In it he gave the 
home farm to his son John, and commended his step-mother to his care. 

Benjamin Greene*, born 12, 1722, m. Jan. 5, 1744, to Anne Utter of Warwick. 

He died a few years after, leaving a daughter Catherine, whose grandfather, Daniel Greene, 
acted as her guardian. 

Joshua Greene*, m. Dinah Carpenter, Feb. 12, 1746. By her he had Mary, Catherine, 
Abigail, Daniel, Elizabeth, Fones, and Susannah. He married (2) Alice Potter of Waite 
descent, June i, 1771. and by her he had a son Joshua. 

9 



114 tTbe (Brceuc ffamil\> 



John Greene*, Littie is known of bim, although he lived on the home farm. It is 
thought by some that he made an early marriage, and by that wife had Gideon, who mar- 
ried Mercy Howland, 1769, and had Hannah, Ilowland, Judith, Lloyd, Philadelphia, 
Luciana, John, Gideon and Daniel. There is no proof one way or the other. lie certainly 
married Sarah, dau. of John and Hannah Carpenter Spink, Dec. 24, 1758, and by her had 
5 children. In advanced life he moved to N. Y. and died there, 1802. 

Ruth Greene-Huling", b. July 1759, '^''- Andrew Huling Her great-grandson. 
Prof. Ray Greene Huling, is a noted educator, in charge of the Cambridge, IMass., 
Schools. He takes a deep interest in genealogy, and his History of the Greenes of 
Quidnessett, published in the Narragansett Historical Register, is widely known and 
often quoted from. He placed the manuscript copy of the same in my hand together 
with copious notes. 

Hannah Greene-Spencer^, b. Nov. 1760, m. Peleg Spencer. 
Sarah Greene-Huling", m. Augustus Iluling, brother of Andrew. 
Patience (Patty,) Greene-Kenyon^, said to have m. Judge Kenyon of N. Y. 
John Greene^, b. 1772, m. Waity Kenyon. iSIoved to N. Y. Died at Penn Yan, 
N. Y., Oct. 21, 1S57. He sold the old Greene farm, so long in the family, to Silas 
Allen, Oct. 7, 1797, signing the deed as John Greene, Jr., of Penn Yan, N. Y, This 
was the last foothold of the Greenes upon their original Quidnessett soil, and as 
there has been controversy as to the date, and the seller, this is given in full to 
settle the matter. This John Greene was noted for his fun and good nature. His 

children were Daniel, Benjamin, Richard, John R., of Kansas, Sarah, who m. 

Strowbridge of Pa., and three other daughters. 

REBECCA GREENE^ b. April 12, 1696. No further record. 

RACHEL GREENE-AYLESWORTH^ b. May 6, 1698 ; 111. Philip 
Aylesworth, the son of Emigrant xlrthur Aylesworth and IMary Brown, the 
granddaughter of Rcy. Chad Brown of Providence, R. I., who succeeded 
Roger Williams as minister at Providence. They had seven children who 

lived to marry, Job, Philip, Sarah, Phebe, Martha and Elizabeth. Also 

Captain Arthur Aylesworth*, 1721-1S01. He m. Freelove. daughter of Edward 
Dyer. Edward was of the Dyer line that according to The New England Genealogical and 
Historical Register was descended from the Quaker Martyr, Mary Dyer, who was hung in 
Boston, in 1660. as a " pestilent heretic." She was the wife of William Dyer, for many years 
Secretary of Providence Plantations. Mary Dyer was one of the three leaders who started 
the Friend's first Society in R. I. Captain Arthur's and Freelove's descendants therefore 
count among their ancestors two who suffered martyrdom for Christ within 70 years, — 
Henry Barrow and Mary Dyer. 

Captain Arthur had nine children, of whom the fourth was Arthur Aylesworth, 
Jr^, 1763-1834. He m. Abigail Dyer, dau. of Col. Charles Dyer. They had six 
children, of whom the oldest was. 

Mary Aylesworth-Reynolds®, 17S0-1S32. M. to John B. Reynolds. They 
had 13 children, of whom the ninth was. 

Ann Greene Reynokis-HulF, m. to Edward C. Hull. Had these 
children, Sarah E., Mary who m. Charles H. Pierce, and Charlotte. 

Sarah E. Hull^, of above, m. in 1901 to John Flavel Greene* 
of Warwick line. [John Flavel®, James", William*', Abraham^, 
James*, Jabez^, James-, Surgeon John\] 

John Flavel Greene*" is a church officer in the historic First 
Baptist Church of Providence, founded in 163S, and of whic^ it 
is thought Surgeon John and his wife Joan were constituent 
members. Eight generations, a.ad yet the same family is repre- 
sented in the same church ! 




RAY GREENE HUEING, SC. D. 



Author of " The Greenes of Ouidnessett " 



Ebe (Brcene jfainu^ 115 



Daniel had a son Jonathan^, the youngest of his children. He married 
Susanna Buers in March, 1733. D. 6 years after, leaving Ebenezer^, born 
Nov. 4, I73<S. Probably he who moved to N. Y. and had Ebenezer and 
Benjamin, killed by Indians and tories in Revolutionary War, and Joseph, 
born in 1767, volunteered in 1779, at 12 years of age, the youngest soldier in 
the Revolutionary War. This Joseph had Daniel, Ebenezer and Benjamin. 



CHAPTER XX 

LINE OF JAMES GREENE^ 

The whole of Part Third of this book is given to the descendants of 
Deborah^, great-granddaughter of Lieut. James Greene. The histor}^ of this 
line up to her day, as well as the pedigree of the rest of the family, is given 
in this chapter. 

Ivieut. James Greene" is believed to have been the seventh child and 
sixth son of John Greene of Quidnessett and his wife Joan Beggarly. Huling 
gives his birth as in 1655. ^^^ ^^^^ North Kingstown records of March, 1698, 
he is designated as Lieut. James. He was 20 years old when King Philip's 
War opened, and a scion of the most prominent family at Quidnessett. 
He may have received his military title then, or have later been an officer in 
the colonial militia, which in those days of frequent Indian disturbances 
had their regular 'training days, and their regular officers. They were Min- 
ute Men, i. e. soldiers allowed to disperse and go about their usual avocations 
in time of peace, but had to be ready at the bugle's blast to fall into line 
and fight for the colony. 

His first wife was Elizabeth , and he married early. In a North 

Kingstown record of March 7, 1698, he is called James Greene, Senior, 
showing that his son James was then a man grown. When old John of 
Quidnessett divided up land among certain of his sons, I\larch 24, 1682, 
there fell to James' share 60 acres bordering on Allen's Harbor. His will 
was probated vSept. 10, 1728. In it he mentions his second wife, Ann, and 
his two sons, John and James. 

The line of the son James is utterly unknown. The records have been 
badly burned, and there is now no trace of him. 

John, the other son, lived at both Bristol and at Quidnessett. His wife 
was Elizabeth. It is handed down in the family, and names, circumstances 
and family anecdotes entirely confirm it, that Elizabeth was the grand- 
daughter on the one side of Hugh Parsons, and on the other cf Elder Obe- 
diah Holmes.* 

* To forestall criticism the author will say she is herself a Congregationalist. and not a Baptist. It 
may be taken for granted that she has made the case out no worse than it was on her Congregational 
brethren, the Mass. authorities 

116 



^be 6recne ffamil^ ny 



Parton tells us something of Elder Holmes. At Lynn, Mass., was an 
aged man who was secretly a Baptist. He sent word to the Newport 
Church, 70 miles away, asking some of the brethren to come and see him 
before he died. Rev. John Clarke, the minister, and two elders of his 
church, Obediah Holmes and John Crandall, made the trip, arriving at Lynn 
on Saturday. The next day Rev. Clarke began to preach to the family of 
his host. Two constables arrested him and his two companions as " errone- 
ous persons," and carried them to Boston. Rev. John Cotton severely de- 
clared that they ought to be hung for they were "soul-murderers." Gover- 
nor Endicott was more lenient. 

" You deserve to die," said he, " but this we have agreed upon. Mr. 
Clarke shall pay ^20 fine ; Obediah Holmes, £2>^ ; and John Crandall, _;^5 
or else they are to be well whipped." 

Holmes refused to pay his fine, as did they all. Friends paid the others 
out against their will. Holmes received " 30 lashes with a three-corded 
whip from the public executioner, so that for many days he could take no 
rest except by supporting himself on his elbows and knees." [Arnold.] 

From Seekonk, 50 miles away, an old man by the name of Hazel or 
Hazell — (a member of the Lascelle family, it often being pronounced and 
written Hazell and Uzell,) — came to visit his friend Holmes and sympathize 
with him. He came in time to see his brutal punishment. When the bar- 
barous ordeal was over, he went up to Holmes and shook his hand. For 
this he was arrested, and sentenced to be fined or whipped. He was so af- 
fected that he died, a martyr to his friendship. 

Obediah Holmes has namesakes for six generations in this John Greene 
family. 

Hugh Parsons, the other ancestor of Elizabeth, was born in 161 3, in 
Great Torrington, England. This is the town that has been called the 
"hot-bed of Puritanism," and from which the Hills, the Westcotts, and some 
of the Waites also came. He came to Massachusetts in 1630 and lived there 
for 20 years. His first wife and first wife's children all died. He married 
(2) Elizabeth England, the young widow of William England. Their old- 
est daughter was Hannah, who married Henry Matteson, and became the 
foremother of all the Alattesons. The Westcotts and Parsons were already 
related by marriage in England. Hannah's marriage to Henry ]\Iatteson 
brought in an intimacy with that family also. The clan feeling is plainly 
seen in the several Westcott and IMatteson marriages entered into by this 
John Greene of Bristol branch. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Greene w^as the namesake of her grandmother, Elizabeth 
Parsons. She was also the second consin of Stukeley Westcott's children, 
and he was one of the pillars of Roger Williams' church. One of her chil- 



ii8 Z\)c (Brccne Ifamil^ 



dren married a wife of Westcott blood ; one married a Matteson ; and two 
of her grandchildren married Mattesons also. 

We do not know all of John Greene of Bristol's children, owing to the 
burning of the North Kingstown records. They had James, Thomas, 
Martha, Enfield, Sarah, and perhaps others. Order of birth unknown. 

THOMAS GREENES He married Elizabeth and had Thomas, 

Hannah, Nathaniel, Mary and Benjamin. 

ENFIELD GREENE-PHILUPS\ 

Martha Piiillips-Matteson^. Married John Matteson*, [John^ Francis", Henry\] 
her third cousin. They had Joshua, Susanna, Enfield, Hannah, John and Elizabeth. 

Freelove Phillips-Matteson^. Married Abraham Matteson^, [Abraham*, Kezekiah^, 
Henry^.] He was related to her twice over, as his mother was a Westcott. They had 
Margaret, Elizabeth, Lydia, John, Abraham, Daniel and Thomas. 

JAMES GREENE'. He was married May i8, 1727, by Thomas Spen- 
cer, Justice of the Peace, to Elizabeth, oldest daughter of John and Rosanna 
Westcott-Smith-Straight, a distant relative. Elizabeth's father had this 
pedigree : Captain Thomas Straight, who probably acquired the title in the 
Pequot War of 1637, married Mary Long, daughter of Joseph and Mary 
Long. By this wife he had Henry Straight, born in Watertown, Mass.. in 
1 65 1. Henry came to R. I. and married Hannah Torman. They had two 
sons, Henry and John, and John, born March i, 1678, married the young 
widow of Daniel Smith, who had been Rose or Rosanna Westcott. 

The descent of Rose, (Rosanna,) wife of John Straight, was this : * About 
1565, Meribe, of Gershom and Meribe Lascelle, early P'rench Huguenots, 
was married in England to William Wardwell, son of Richard and Mary 
Ithell-Wardwell. A daughter of this couple, Rosanna, married a Waite, and 
Mehitable Waite of the next generation married Richard Hill. Among 
other children these Hills had John, the head of the line of Hills from which 
Usal and " Wealthy " John Greene afterwards took wives, and Rose or 
Rosanna, born in 1613. All of the last mentioned parties came to America. 
Their home in England had been at Great Torrington, in Devonshire. 

The Westcotts were of Great Torrington also. Richard Westcott had 
married Mary Parsons in 161 1. Their son Stukeley Westcott, came to 
Ma.ss. about 1635, the same year Rose Hill came over. They were nearly 
the same age, and old friends, and it is all but certain they married. All 
through their line the unusual name of Rosanna has gone down. Up to 
1750 the name never occurred in R. I. records but what a relationship could 
be traced straight back to this Stukeley Westcott and wife. 

Their oldest son was Amos Westcott. He married two sisters, the 



* The trans- Atlantic records that apply are scant, but I believe this to be substantially correct. It is 
the result of much research. 



I 



^be (3rcene JFai]tiiV> 119 

youngest, Deborah Stafford, marrying liim June 9, 1670. Rosanna was their 
daughter. She married Daniel Smith, and after his death, John Straight, 
by whom she had nine children. Elizabeth was the oldest, and was born 
Oct. 8, 1705. 

The Westcotts were the most uncompromising of Baptist families. 
They were exceedingly proud of having, through Stukeley Westcott and his 
wife, a hand in the historic first Baptist Church in America. The tradition 
of this has come straight down to the present generation of Rose's descend- 
ants, and for the first few generations one of them who dared join some other 
church was held to have almost j^ut himself outside of the pale of the family. 
Elizabeth impressed her Baptist principles as strongly on her family, as her 
mother, Rose, had done on hers. And that is all we really know of those 
two generations, except the names of their children. 

James Greene^ and Elizabeth had Sarah, born in 1728, Ann, Benjamin, 
Jeremiah, Dinah, Abel and Deborah. 

Benjamin Greene^, [James*, John^, James^ John',] born Aug. 28, 1734, in East Green- 
wich. Married May 25, 1760, to Comfort Carr, who was also of Lascelle descent. His home 
was in West Greenwich. Of his cliildren, James, Anstress and Benjamin, there are only 
birth records. 

Caleb Greene^, 1764— 1S23. Had a son Samuel. 

Virtue Greene-Matteson®,. b. May 3, 1767 ; m Edmund Matteson, her distant 

cousin. Virtue was a second wife. All of Edmund's children that are known to be 

hers, were Virtue, who married her mother's cousin, John Greene (AbeF, James*, 

etc.); Lydia, who married Stephen King ; and Stukeley, who had Ira, John and 

Stukeley of his own. 

Jeremiah Greene^, b. June i, 1736 ; m. Freelove Hopkins, 1760. They had Russell, 

Barbara, Gardiner, \Vaite, Jeremiah, Abial and Ann. Jeremiah was a Revolutionary soldier, 

Dinah Greene-Kittle*, b. Feb. 5, 1739; "'• Edward Kittle, March 27, 1762. The 

name is now written Kittelle or Kettelle. cX,-: 

Asa Kittelle*^, 1770 — 1849. M. in his 50th year to Eunice Pendock, whose father 

came fiom France. She was ig. She died at 38, the mother of 14 or 15 children. 

Of these, Freelove became Mrs. John Sheldon ; Lydia m. Isaac Peck ; Lois m. 

Robert Pierce ; Mary m. Benjr.min Arnold. All these had children. Albert F. m. Sara 

E. Matteson, his cousin's daughter. No children. See Kittelle Chapter. 

Elizabeth Kiitelle-Brown^, m. Nicholas Brown. 

Amos Kittelle^, d. Oct. 10, 1849, m. his relative. Thankful Straight. They had Lucy 
A. who m. John Waite ; Isaiah, who m. Susan Geer ; and Caroline, who m. Albert 

Baker. All these had children. 

Rufus Kittelle'^, m. (i) Susan Greene. (2) Lydia Rogers. His children w-ere 
Senaca, James, Thomas, Rufus, Noel, Caleb and three daughters. 

Samuel Kittelle". Children were Mrs. Celinda Spencer, Mrs. Ruth Bates, and 
Benjamin. 

Silas Kittelle^. He m. a Tarbo.K, and had a son Samuel. 

Ephraim Kittelle'', m. July 21, 1799, Newie (Renewed) Briggs of King blood. 
[Renewed*, Sarah King^, Magdalen^, John^] One of their daughters married her 
cousin. Gideon Hopkins. Their daughter Dinah m. Joshua Fish of Ichabod and 
Hannah Andrews-Fish, and had Isaac, Rebecca, Joshua, Ichabod, Lydia, Susan 
and George W. Ephraim and Newie had also sons, George, Othniel, William and 
Peleg Kittelle. and a dau. Almira, who m. Philip Davis. 



I20 ^be Greene Jfamil^ 



James Kittelle®. Married his cousin, Elizabeth King. See Kittelie Chapter. 
Abel Greene^, b. Oct. 14, 1741 ; d. 1S28 ; m. Ann (Nancy) King, 1764. Abel was a 
Revolutionary soldier. He and his sons had a grist-mill and a saw-mill. His wife was of 
the La Valley-King family. They had nine children, seven of them sons. Obediah, Abel 
Jr., and John Greene all moved to Susquehanna Co., Pa. Of Samuel, Mary, Elizabeth, 
Obediah, Paul and Jeremiah, there are only birth records. 

Nathan Greene*", b. Aug. 12, 1766, m. Abigail, and had Welcome, b. 1795. 
John Greene®, m. in 1803 to his cousin. Virtue Matteson, dau. of Edmund. [Ed- 
mund*, Eben.^, Hen.^, Hen.'] They lived in Pa. 

Nathan Greene', son of John, etc., m. Lovica Haverly, and had by her 

Simon, Ellen and Louise. RL (2) Mary A. and had Harrison, Elmer 

and Finley. One of the daughters became Mrs. Crawford, and left a son, 
Nathan Crawford^. 

William Greene^, m. Phebe Haverly. 

Emily Greene-Beninger*. She had sons Pundersoii and George, 
E. M. Greene-Ford^. 
Mary Greene-Bennett^. 
Mercy Greene-Gregory^, wife of Taylor Gregory. One dau., Mrs. Lydia 
Place. 

Lydia Green-Whitcome,' wife of John Whitcome. Children, Amanda, 
Virtue and Scott. 

Sarah Greene- Matteson', m. her cousin, Reuben Matteson. They had 
Stillman, Beninger, Byron, John, Abbie, Syce and Nicholas Matteson. 
Job Greene", m. Eunice Doolittle. Had James, John and Charles. 
James Greene®. [Abel^, James*, John^, James''', John^.] He married (i) Mary 
Brown in 1797, the mother of all his children but one. James' was by the last wife. 
Two of his children, Dinah Greene-Johnson and Nathan Greene, left no children. 

Comfort Greene-Davis-Harrington\ 1790— 1S72 ; m. (i) George Davis. 
Their daughter Mary m. George Arnold and had four children, and their son 
William m. his second cousin, Sarah, daughter of Gideon Hopkins. They 
have four children. Comfort m. (2) Daniel Harrington. 

Nancy Greene— Potter', iSoi— 1872. She was the last one of three sisters to 
di'e within a month and 12 days. She married Benjamin Potter. Her daughter 
Mahalam. Thos. Sprague, and Zilpah m. Frederick Tibbetts. Both have 
children. 

Alice Greene—Greene', 1S03— 1872. She m. Horace Greene of Coventry, 
Two children died. Of Buriel and Nathan there is no record ; of Edwin and 
Oscar nothing beyond that they are married. Louise Greene-Greene died 
without issue ; Cynthia m. Joab Whaley and Oliver m. Phebe, daughter of 
John Matteson. 

Abel Greene', m. Saran Olin. Moved to Illinois, and left unknown de- 
scendants. 

James Greene,' 1812-1S77. Half-brother to the others. M. Nathan's 
widow, Lois Pollock— Greene. 
Deborah Greene^ Born Sept. 23, 1744 ; d. in 1812. Married her brother Abel's brother- 
in-law, Samuel King, April 15, 1766. Part HI of this book is given entirely to her line. 



MARTHA GREENE-MATTESON\ She was married 10 days 
before her brother, James Greene, being married to Joseph IMatteson 
May 8, 1727. He was her mother's first cousin, and had at that time a 
grown son by his first marriage. Had nine children. Of Obediah, Eliza- 



^be (Brecne yamil^ 121 



beth, Thomas and Eunice I have no records. Martha's line is a most ex- 
tensive one, and cannot be given as fully as I would wish, from lack of space. 

Alice Mattesox— Whitford^, wife of Thomas Whitford, her cousin. Line inter- 
married witli the Tarbox branch later. 

Jonathan Matteson^, m. Elizabeth Hackstone. Miss James, the historian, and the 
line of Benjamin Greene, including many of the Howards, are from Jonathan through 
marriagesof his daughter and grand-children. 

EZEKIEL MattesuN^. [Martha Greene*. John^, James", John^.] This is a most im- 
lortant branch. Remarried Rosanna Matteson, daughter of Josiah and Mercy Nichols- 
Matteson, grand-daughter of Josiah and Rosanna Westcott—Matteson, and great-grand-dau- 
ghter of Henry and Hannah Parson—Matteson. Ezekiel and Rosanna were twice over fourth 
cousins, and once tliird cousins. The fourth cousinship came in through the English Par- 
sons--Westcott marriage, fust on Ezekiel's mother's side, and again on Rosanna's grand- 
mother's side. [Rosanna^, wife of Josiah Matteson, Senior, Zerubabel*, Robert^, Stukeley^, 
son of Richard and Mary Parsons— Westcott^.] Ezekiel was born in 1743 and married, 
Feb., 1774, in West Greenwich. Si.K children lived to marry. Of Thomas and Josiah, 
I have no lists. 

Martha Matteson— Hopkins®, m. Daniel Hopkins, descended from Stephen Hop- 
kins of the Maytiower, and Regicide Judge Theophilus Whaley. See Chapter 
XXVni. She had a son Greene Hopkins. A daughter Mercy ni. George Har- 
rington, and their dau. Betsey m. Wm. E. Gilmore. 

JNIeribali Matteson— King^, wife of George King. See Chapter XXVI. 
Esther Matteson— King^, wife of Joel King. See Chapter XXX. 
Joseph Madison*", born March 2, 1791, m. Celia Fowler, and d. Aug. g, 1887, in 
his 97th year. His branch adopted the spelling of Madison, about the time of 
President Madison 's election. Six children, only three of whom left heirs. 

Joseph Warren Madison^, [Matteson line, Joseph*, Ezekiel^, Joseph^,Henry^. J 
1820— 1900. He married Maria, dau. of Alfred U. and Ann Allen— Smith. 
The wife was descended from John Greene's firm friend, the Indian trader 
Richard Smith. [Alfred^, Silas'', Christopher^, Thomas^, John*, William*, 
James^, Richard Smith^,] They had these children who married : 

George Warren Madison*, m. Fannie E. Spink. Their children are 
Warren, Harold L., Ralph, Louise, Francis S. and George M. 

Celia Maria Madison-Mathewson*, b. March 11, 1S57 ; m. Nov. 8, 
iSSi.to her second cousin-german, Thomas Mathewson. [Thomas^, Syria 
Wilbur", Wilbur^, Russell*, Josiah^ Josiah^, Henry Matteson^.] The 
form of Mathewson was adopted by Wilbur, aud followed by his descend- 
ants. Thomas Mathewson's line is well worth tracing. He is the old- 
est living son of Syria Wilbur Mathewson, the well-known proprietor 
of that beautiful summer resort at Narragansett Pier, the Mathewson 
House. He has Westcott blood through the wife of the first Josiah, 
[Rosanna^, Zerubabel*, Robert^ Stukeley^, Richard^] Through the 
mother, who was a Hill, he has Lascelle-Wardwell and Westcott blood, 
and is also lineally descended from Roger Williams. His mother was 
also of the Warwick Greenes, and of the Aliens of Prudence Island. 
[Thomas*, Amma Eliza Hill-Mathewson'', Lucy Ann Allen-Hill'', Hon. 
John Allen*, Patience Greene-Allen*, David Greene*, James^ Surgeon 
John Greened] The Hon. John Allen of this line was the brave but 
rash man who made so caustic a reply to the British officers who offer- 
ed him gold for provender for the British Army, that Wallace, in 
anger, burned every house, barn and haystack on the island, and drove 
Allen's family out in their night clothes, while the flames licked up the 
home that had been the pride of the island. See Chapter XXIV, 



122 Zl)c (Brccne J'ainil^ 



Ihomas and Ceiia Mathewson have two children, Anna 'Si. and 
George Hill. 
John Harris Madison', brother of Joseph Warren ; 1828-1887. Son, 
Joseph Slocum. 

Thomas Edwin Madison", 1830-1S85 ; m. Emily Havens. Had George 
Edwin and Thomas Edward. 
John Ma'ITESON^. [Martha Greene-Matteson*, John Greene^, James-, John^.] He 
married Elizabeth King of the La Valley-King family, Oct. i, 1761. Deacon John Matte- 
son of Nooseneck, R. I., was said to have been descended from him. 

Lois M.\tteson-Tarbox^. M. Samuel Tarbox, Sep. i, 1761. The Tarbox family is 
an old English one. The curious name, once written Tarbocke and Torbock, commemorates 
the Danish invasion of England, more than twelve centuries ago. It was originally Thor's 
bock or beck, i. e. the god Thoi's brook. The stream still runs by the old Tarbox Hall, 
six miles from Liverpool. Some of Lois Matteson's descendants have the coat-of-arms, an 
elaborate escutcheon with two full length figures as supporters at the sides. The motto's 
nicaning is, "Destiny Separates, but Liclination Unites." 

John Tarbox came to Lynn, Mass., by 1630. He was one of the first iron-workers, and 
turned out the first kettles ever made in America. After John^, came John^, who came to 
East Greenwich about 1695. During the French and Indian War he was captured at 
Oswego. Again at the Crown Point expedition, he was made a prisoner, and remained sfi 
a year, dying on the coast of Africa in 1759. Samuel, his son, was then a grown young 
man, and married Lois three years after his patriotic father's death. 

Of their large family of children, John, Whipple, Benjamin, Margaret and Welthian all 
married and moved to other parts, and their children are unknown. David's son Anthony 
left three daughters. Samuel had two children, John and Edith, but their children are 
unknown. 

Curnell Carpenter Tarbo.x^, [Lois^, Martha Greene-Matteson*, John^, James^, 
John\J 1776-1S62. M. Sally Adams. She was a lineal descendant of John Adams 
who came to Mass. in 1630, and it is said of Richard Warren of the Mayflower, also. 
She was related to the two Presidents Adams. Her father, Philemon Adams, was 
a Revolutionary soldier. Curnell and Sally's son, Eliphalet, left an unknown heir. 
Their dau., Sally Maria, m. her cousin Daniel, and line is traced with his. Wealthy 
m. Enos L. Preston, her children all died but three, George H., Augustus and 
Frank T. 

Hiram Tarbox', 1S19-1S7S; M. his cousin Eunice ; six children lived. Of 
Alfred, no records , Eunice m. Joseph Prentice ; Ann A. m. her cousin, An- 
thony Spencer ; and Isabelle m. Stephen Cleveland. All left children. 

George W. Tarbo.x^, 1827-1902. He lived in New York City. He 
m. Caroline Lewis, descended from the Mayilower families of Gov. 
Bradford, Rogers, Alden and Mullins, as well as Col. Gallup, Thos. 
Stanton, the first Indian interpreter, Rev. James Noyes, the founder of 
Yale College, and half a dozen other old colonial families. Mrs. Tar- 
box is also descended from John Greene of Quidnessett through Eleanor 
Greene-Lewis*. See line of Benjamin^, Chapter XXI. The children 
of Geo. W. Tarbox are Ida, Kate and George. 

William B. Tarbo.x*, 1835-1897. M. Sarah Bingham. 
Carrie E. Tarbox-Smith^, wife of Russell Smith. 
Joseph Tarbox''. m. Esther Whitford. Eight children lived to marry. 
Eunice m. her cousin Hiram, and line is traced with his. 

Matteson Tarbo.N^. 1791-1859. M. Phebe Bailey. They had William 
H., unmarried ; Daniel, who m. Mary Clark and has Jesse and Clar- 
ence ; Ann, wife of William Andrews, and mother of Edwin, Bernice, 
Edward, Mabel and Annie ; Charles A., whom. Mary Shippee, and 
has a son Fred ; Joseph, who left no issue? and Phebe Maria, v.-ife of 



Zbc (Brccne jTarnii^ 123 



George C. Goodwin, and mother of Florence Goodwin 
Fones W. Tarbox', [Joseph^, Lois Matteson-Tarbox^ Martha Greene- 
Matteson*, John'', James^, Johni.] 1794-1S67. M. Sarah Spencer. 14 child- 
ren, of whom 10 married. No record of Franklin's familv. 

Hiram Tarbox^ b. June 15 1817. Living- in 1904 in full mental 
vigor. He is called the " Patriarch of Tremont," a part of Greater New 
York, where he has lived since 1S51. He was postmaster there for 20 
years. Like most of the Tarbo.xes, he is a man of substantial quali- 
ties and high standing in the commucity. He furnished the Tarbox 
names and dates for this chapter. His wife was ALiry Clark. She 
died in iSyg. Their children are Mary C. born 1840 ; Hiram T. born 
1842 ; Sarah E., widow of Joseph H. Lee ; and Charles W., married 
to Margaret Behrens. They have one daughter, Elsa. 

David Tarbox*. 1S19-1892. M. (i) Amanda King, and (2) Mrs. 
Sally Jackson. His dau. Abbie is the wife of Hiram Peck, and Sarah 
is wife of Robert Jackson. By the last wife he had Oscar, Orville, Otho, 
Osman, Fones, John and Eila, the wife of Clinton Hopkins. Most of 
these children have families. 

Caleb Tarbo.\^, m. Maria Clark, and had Egbert, Agnes and Edgar, 
all of whom married. 

Robert Tarbox^, m. Harriet Wells. Their son Abijah J. d. un- 
married. John, Fones, Laura, Charles. Ralph, Isabel, Byron and 
Hattie are all married. 

William Tarbox\ 1826-1898. M. Mary E. Bennett. Of their 
children, Wm. Spencer and Ulysses are unmarried. Mary Ellen, 
Gerome, Lydia, Napoleon, Wealthy and Ida are all married. 

Horace Tarbox'^, by first wife, Adeline Mitchell, had these children 
who lived to marry : Adeline, Benjamin, Hnldah and Ella. By his 
second wife, Catherine Cavanagh, he had Florace and William. 

Orrin Tarbox^, m. Sarah Bennett. They have Eunice, Edward, Her- 
bert, Hattie, Sarah, and Mary. Their son Edward has 7 children, and 
their dau. Mary has one child. 

Sarah Tarbo.x-Hall*, m. Emery H. Hall. They have Benj. E., 
Charles .\., Remus, Hannah and Mary. All but Charles and I\.emus 
are married. 

Edward Tarbox*, m. Susan Cleveland. They have one living 
daughter, Mrs. Bertha M. Wilcox. She has also one daughter. 
Roby Tarbox-Spencer". [Joseph^, Lois Matteson-Tarbox^, Martha Greenp- 
Matteson*, John Greene^, James^, John^.] M. Richard Spencer. He was a 
descendant of Randall Holden, one of the proprietors of Warwick, and one 
who suffered imprisonmerxt at the hands of the Mass. authorities for 
his heresies. Richard was also descended from the Warwick Greenes, thus : 
[Richard^ Jolm*^, Wm.^, Wm>. Audrey Greene-Spencer^, John Greene^, 
Surgeon Johni.] Roby and Richard had six children marry, Anthony. _ who 
m. Ann Tarbox, and had one child ; Audrey, who m. her cousin, Benjamin 
Spencer, and had 10 children ; Joseph, who m. Celinda Kettelle, and had ro 
children ; Augustus, whom. Mary E. Harrington ; Huldah, who m. Daniel 
C. Bailey, and had three children ; and E. Amanda, who m. Job Briggs. Mrs. 
Briggs is an expert on family genealogy, and has supplied many difficult links 
for these pages. 

Hannah Tarbox-Carpenter', 1800-1866. She m. Curnell Carpenter. They 
had Curnell John, who m. Huldah Blanchard ; Sarah J., whom. Sylvester Stone; 
Esther M., who m. Charles Shippee ; Lj'dia, who m. Stephen Brown ; Hannah, 
who m. George W. Braymon ; and Mary G., whom. Horace E. Chadwick. 



24 Zhc Greene ffainil^ 



Jane Tarbox-Shippee', 1803-1S68. One son, Chas. R. He has 3 children. 

Daniel Tarbox', [Joseph®, Lois Matteson-Tarbox^, Martha Greene-Matte- 
son*, John Greene^, Jas.^, John^] 1805-1896. Like the other brothers in 
this family, he stood very high in public estimation. He spent several years 
in business in Europe. By first wife, his cousin Saily Maria Tarbox, he had 
Curnell, who m. Harriet Ransford ; Louis Ferret, who m. Ann Eliza Grant ; 
and Wealthy Maria, who m. George T. Brown. 

By his last wife, Lucelia Verrington, he had Daniel, killed in the Civil \Yar; 
Lucelia ; Anna ; and Effie L., who m. David O. Cargill. 

David Tarbox', [Joseph®, Lois^, Martha*, John*, Jas.-. John\] 1808-1S92, 
M. Mary Spencer, a niece of Richard Spencer, his sister Roby's husband. 
She was of the line of Randall Holden and the Warwick Greenes. They had 
14 children, only two of whom married. Wealthian is single ; Oliver Crom- 
well m. Ann Maria Watson ; and Annie E. m. Alvin A. Briggs. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN 

I head this chapter, The Tribe of Benjamin, for tribe it is. It is the 
most prolific house of the many prolific ones we are studying. 12, 14 and 
15 were a common number of children in a family. Captain Amos of this 
line was the father of 19 children. Amy Knowles-Greene, wife of Amos, a 
son of " White Hat " John Greene, was able to boast that at the age of 89 
she had four generations of posterity, and 364 descendants ! So impressed 
with the importance of having many olive branches was one of this tribe, 
Charles Greene, a great-grandson of " White Hat" John Greene, that not 
content with his own modest supply of 13 children, he raised 22 more, mak- 
ing a lively brood of 35 }'oungsters brought up under one roof-tree ! 

Frank L. Greene, A. M., B. A., has written a careful history of the fam- 
ily of Benjamin Greene.* It is a large volume, and even then he failed to 
get all of them. I shall refer those interested to his work. In this chapter 
only the first generations will be traced, as a rule, although in certain cases 
the genealogy is brought down to the present time, as where Mr. Greene has 
failed to list them, or where new evidence clears up a former tangle or 
dispute. 

Benjamin Greene^ was the youngest son of John Greene of Quidnessett 
and his wife Joan. He married Humility Coggeshall. Her grandfather 
was John Coggeshall, the first President of Providence Plantations, who died 
in office, Nov. 27, 1648. Her parents were Joshua and Joan West-Coggeshall.f 
Her father, Joshua Coggeshall, together with INIary Dyer, the Martyr, and 
Daniel Gould, founded the first Friends' Society in R. I. Private records 
give her birth in 1671, but the official record places it in Jan., 1670. 

Benjamin Greene's name is frequent in the records. His land joined 
that of his brother, James Greene, at Quidnessett. He also bought part of 
his brother Edward's estate, and seems to have owned considerable real es- 



*The Greene Family, by Frank L. Greene. A. M. Price, S8.00. Mr. Greene at present is Principal of 
Grammar Scliool, No, 9 Stirling Place, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

t Joau West was probably the daughter of Francis West, who was in Duxlniry, Mass., by 1640 

125 



126 ?Ibe 6rcenc jfamtlv 

tate beside. In 1704-5 he was involved in lawsuits over this land. The 
next year he sold out and mov^ed to East Greenwich, where he died early in 
1 7 19 — not in 1 7 16, as some have it. He helped to lay out the Path Road, 
that followed the old Pequot Indian trail from the Bay. 

Benjamin and Humility had 12 children, having five sons in succession, 
and then seven daughters. Caleb died in 1727, and there are only birth re- 
cords of Sarah and Dinah ; Mary married Thomas Spencer ; Catherine mar- 
ried her cousin, Daniel Greene^ of North Kingstown ; Ann married Daniel 
Tennant ; Phebe married Thomas Wells of Westerley ; and Deborah mar- 
ried William Reynolds of East Greenwich. This leaves the lines of four 
sons, John, Benjamin, Henry and Joshua. Four things are noticeable of 
this confederation of families : (i) Their numbers. (2) The many soldiers 
sent to the French-and-Indian and Revolutionary Wars. (3) Their relig- 
ious bias, by which a great majority became Seventh-Day Baptists. (4) The 
overflow of the middle generation to New York State, and of the later gen- 
erations to Minnesota and other western states. 

"WHITE HAT" JOHN GREENES Frank L. Greene thinks he 
was born about 1688 ; I should put it two years earlier, reckoning from the 
other children's ages. He was Lieut. John, an officer of the home militia 
or ]\Iinute Men ; but as his uncle, Lieutenant John, is always spoken of by 
that title, I shall not use it. There were, beside the uncle, two cousins of 
his, all named John Greene, and a half dozen Warwick John Greenes in the 
next towfiship. Two nicknames served to distinguish this John of Benja- 
min from the others. One was " Lord John," perhaps from a haughty or 
consequential air. The other was " White Hat John," which shows he had 
a few eccentricities, and is the more human to us because of it. He bought 
land in West Greenwich in 1733, eight years before it was set off into a 
town (township) by itself, so he was something of a pioneer. 

About 1709 he married. Some histories say Oct 13, 1726, but that was 
the date he receipted for his wife's portion of her father's estate. His wife 
was Mary, daughter of Arthur and Mary (Brown) Aylesworth. She was a 
sister to Arthur Aylesworth, who married Rachel Greene, daughter of 
Daniel, and a cousin to Elizabeth, John Greene of Bristol's wife. She was 
a granddaughter of Rev. Chad Brown, the first regular minister at Provi- 
dence, (if Roger Williams is not counted), and also a granddaughter of Elder 
Obediah Holmes, of whom more is told in Chapter XX. She was the 
mother of 15 children, three of whom died young. After she died "White 
Hat " John married Mrs. Priscilla Bowen, Aug. 7, 1741. He died in 1756, 
leaving a good estate. 12 children, 2 daughters and 10 sons, lived to marry: 
Thomas, Philip, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Ruth, William, Josiah, Amos, Jona- 
than, Caleb, Joseph and Joshua. 



ITbe 6rccne family 127 



Thomas Greene*. Born about 1710. Married Sa'-ah , 1730. Six children, 

John, Stephen, Mary, Sylvester, Elizabeth and Lowest or Lois. Allen®, son of John^, was 
a Revolutionary soldier, and head of a considerable line. 

Philip Greene*. Born about 1712. Married (i) to Theodosia Spencer, daughter of 
Capt. Robert .Spencer ; and (2) to Mrs. Mary Reynolds-Sweet. He lived in West Green- 
wich, R. L His children were by the first wife. There were 11, of whom seven were 
sons. Two died young. Of George (1738) and Sarah (1745) there are only birth records. 

Zilpha married Noxon, and Rhoda m. Nathaniel Brown. 

Eleazer Greene^, b. July 22, 1735. 'SI. at 19 to Sarah Carpenter. Lived in W. 
Greenwich. Two sons, Philip, b. March 10, 1755, and Oliver, b. Feb. 8, 1757. 

Job Greene*, b. March 10, 1737. Married March 6, 1760, to Christian Greene, 
his great-uncle Henry's daughter. [Christian*, Plenry^, Benjajnin-, John^.] They 
had a son Solomon. 

Elder Elisha Greene*, [Philip*, "White Hat" John^, etc.], b. July 14, 1740. At 
18 he married Edith Stafford of Warwick. She was probably of Westcott biood, and 
certainlv was related to Rosanna Straight, whose daughter married James Greene of 
John of Bristol. They lived at West Greenwich, and had but three children. Lucy 
m. Solomon Lewis of Conn. Lodowick was a Revolutionary soldier, and the head 
of almost an army of descendants, mostly in N. Y. I give Stafford's line alone. 

Elder Stafford Greene'', [Elisha*, Phil.*, John^, Benj.^, John\] b. Jan. 19, 
1726. M. Lydia Brown. 

Amos Greene', m. Hannah Nichols. Had six children, Stafford, 
Almon, Edith. Also 

Mervyl Greene- Hiscox®, wife of Otis Hiscox. Has Lydia, 
Edna and Irving. 

Eunic-e Greene-Morehouse*. 
Lydia Greene-Brown*, wife of Ambrose Brown. 
Horatio Brown®, of Pawtucket, R. L 
Seth Greene", m. Welthean Greene, his second cousin. [She of 
Gideon®, Caleb*, Benj.*, etc ] 

George Greene^, m. Maria Lewis. 

Ann Greene-Allen®, m. John Allen. She has Lula 
(Mrs. Chas. S. Greene), Grace (Mrs. Walter Rile>). 
Milton and John. 

Elisha Greene®, m. Louise Congdon. 
Elisha Greene*, m. Susan Tillinghast. One son, John B, 
Allen Greene*, m. Celia M. Carpenter. They had Chas. A., and 
Roxana (Mrs. John B. Sheldon). This Chas. A. Greene®, born 
Sept 6, 1849, m. Mary E. Andrews, and has a son Walter^", and 
and a grandson. Waiter". Chas. A. Greene® has the historical 
turn of so many of this family. He prepared an abridgement of 
Rav Greene Huling's "Greenes of Quidnessett," which ran as 
a series in the Gleamr of Phenix, R. L, and had a wide cir- 
culation. 

Mary Greene-Lillibridge*, m. Jesse R. Lillibridge. They had 
Herbert, Seth, Mary (Mrs. Elmer Cole), and Byron. 

Eunice Greene-Carpenter*, m. Christopher Carpenter, They 
have Mrs. Nettie Haven, Mrs. Annie Higgins, and Mrs. Eva 
McCabe. 
Josiah Greene", [Stafford®, Elisha*, Phil.*. John^ Benjl, John^] born 
April 22, 17S9 ; m. Elizabeth Lewis, Feb. 4. 1810. Had 6 child- 
ren. Varnum and Lydia married, but left no living heirs. 

Stafford Greene*, b. Aug. 11, J813; m. Amy Hazard Lewis. 
Harriet J. Greene-Witter®, wife of Jonah Witter. 



128 Zbc (Brcene ffaniil^ 



Has Eva L., Henry J. and Chas. A. 

Alice A. Greene-Matteson", b. July 3, 1848 ; m. to 
David Edwin Matteson. [Matteson line, David Edwin'', 
Peleg^, Peleg^, David*, David^, Jo.siah^ Henry^] He 
is also of Westcott, and Lascelle-Waite descent. They 
have two children living-, Edwin Stanley and Walter 
Marshall. 

Josiah Greene', m. Mary Alice Walker. One son, 

Chas. H. They live in Alameda, California. 

Alma Greene-Gorton*, wife of Benj. Tillinghast Gorton. He 

is a descendant of Samuel Gorton, imprisoned by the Mass. 

authorities for heresy. They have Abbie, Jason and Henry, all 

married. 

Sabra Greene-Hazard®, m. James Hazard. One son, Chas. L. 

Betsey Greene-Nichols®, m. Giles M. Nichols. They have a 

daughter. Angle E. 

Lucv Greene-Lewis'', (of Stafford^, Eiisha^, etc.), m. Thomas Lewis. 

Had Stafford, Wellington, Seth, Palmer, Lydia, Lucy, Amy, Denni- 

son and Stephen. 

Caleb Greene^, [of Phil."', "White Hat" John^, etc.,] b. Dec. i, 174S. Married 

Mary . Lived in W. Greenwich. They had David (1771), Job (1776), Sarah, 

Spencer (1781), and Russell (17S6), 
John Greene^. Died before 1785. Said to have left a son Solomon. 
Captain William Greene*. [■" White Hat " John^, Benjamin^, John^] 'SI. Judith 
Rathbone. Lived at Westerly. Many of his descendants moved to N. Y. It would take 
two chapters the size of this to enumerate his posterity. This is an honorable and leading 
branch. Frank L. Greene's book gives the full line. Wm. Rathbone, Benjamin and 
Paidon were the leading ones of his family. 

Josiah Greene*, b. about 1715 ; m. to Hannah Mowry. Lived in Charleston, R. 1. 
Had 10 children, and descendants innumerable. Two of his sons, Benjamin and John, 
served in both the French-and-Indian and Revolutionary Wars. For gallantry at Mon- 
mouth, John was made a Captain. 

Amos Greene*, b. April 17, 1717. Lived at Charleston. M. Amy Knowles, who 
counted 364 descendants when she was 89 years old. She lived to be over 100. One son, 
Capt. Amos, had 19 children. The ciiiefs of this house were Amos, William, Thomas, • 
Jaffrey and Henry. Frank L. Greene's book gives them in full. 

Benjamin Greene*, [John^, Benj.^, John\] born 1719. AL (i) Mercy P.ogers, Feb. 7, 
1741 ; and (2) Mrs. Anna Greene-Sweet, his cousin. j\Ie;-cy Rogers was the daughter of 
Samuel Rogers, and was, it is claimed, a lineal descendant of Thomas Rogers of the May- 
flower. The Rogers family is an ancient one. The original name was Hruod or Hrother 
in the Prankish tongue, and meant fame or glory, or according to another rendering, " one 
whose word is reliable." The first Rogers was Norman-French. The earliest ancestor of 
the American branch, that can be substantiated, was Aaron Rogers, a native of Rome, 
Italy, who came to London in the year 1300. He was a merchant, and became enormously 
wealthy. His great-grandson was John Rogers, who was piebendary (member of the 
Catliedral Chapter, a sort of secular clergyman,) of St. Paul's Cathedral. For his stanch 
adherence to the Protestant faith, Queen Mary had him burned at the stake at Smithfieid, 
London, Feb. 4, 1555. He was the first martyr of her reigm There is an old, old Bible, 
burned, and a few pages missing, that is preserved in Alfred University, Alfred. N. Y., - 
where so many of Mercy Rogers-Greene's descendants live. It is claimed that this Bible 
went to the stake with its owner, but was only partially destroyed. James Rogers, one of 
the earliest settlers in America, brought this Bible with him. He had such a superstitious 
faith in it that when in peril in the wilderness he slept with it under his head to protect him, 
from the Indians. 



^be (Brecne family 129 



The Rogerses in some way are connected with the Lascelles. They probably married 
into the family, the generation following the martyr, John Rogers. They are remarkably 
long-lived, eight at least of the American-born Rogerses reaching the century mark before 
1800. They have a beautiful coat-6f-arms. In the upper part of the shield is a conven- 
tionalized fleur-de-lis, " the lilies of France," and in the lower part is a five-pointed star. 
The crest is sometimes a helmet, and sometimes a fleur-de-lis. The motto is, " Nos Nos- 
traque Deo," — " Ourselves and our possessions to God." Surely an appropriate motto for 
a family, one of whom went to the stake for his religion, and others crossed the ocean to 
find a home in the wilderness where they might worship God in freedom. 

Mercy Rogers bequeathed this goodly inlieritance of blood to all but the youngest of 

Benjamin Greene's children, Mary being by tlie last wife. As Frank L. Greene gives a 

score or so of pages to this branch, I shall only carry out the pedigree of those imperfectly 

traced by him, and of the youngest daughter, a tangle in whose ancestry the family desire 

straightened. 

Simeon Greene', b. Dec. 13, 1742. 

Caleb Greene^, b. Aug. 2, 1744 ; m. (i) to Sarah Brown, and (2) to Welthan 

Ellis, the mother of his children. They had Sarah, Thomas, Gideon, Lydia, Mercy, 

Eunice, Lois and Simeon. I give the line of the third of these, Gideon. 

Gideon Greene'', [Caleb^, Benj.*, John^, Benj.^, John^] b. March 7, 1777 ; 

m. Mary Tillinghast on Christmas, 1795. 14 children ; 2 died young ; 3 

never married ; and 2 left no heirs. 

Phebe Greene- Andrews', m. Geo. Andrews. Had Gideon, Robert, 

James, Hannah, Elizabeth and Phebe! 

John T. Greene', m. Fanny Sheldon. His dau. I.ydia** m. Burrill 

Waite ; Caroline* m, Jonathan Word, and had Mrs. Jane Word-Capwell, 

John Word, and Mrs. Caroline Word-Parker. The son, John A. Greene* 

m. Mary Holland. 

Welthean Greene-Greene', m. Seth Greene. See under that heading, 

this chapter. 

Benjamin Greene', m. Mary Bennett. They had Maximilian, 

Lucretia and Caleb ; Alpheus*, who m. Sarah Scott and had Byron, 

Ella, Emma, Angle, Edwin and Mary; Amos*, who m. Angeline Scott 

and has two children ; Melissa", wife of James Dennison ; who has 

one child ; and Caroline", wife of Chas. Tyler, who has three children. 

Gideon Greene', [Gideon". Caleb^, Benj*., John'*, Benj-., John,'] 

1S14-1S76. M. Sally Fry, dau. of Samuel and Phebe Bailey-Fry. 

Phebe Greene-Henry-Payson*, b. July 2, 1837 ; m. (i) to 

Harris E. Henry, and (2) to Willis H. Payson. 

Ida E. Henry-Page", m. Dr. Warren Ellis Page, 1885. 

No children. 

Anna B. Henry-Page", m. in 1S86 to Elmer Ellsworth 

Page, brother of her sister's husband. Their children 

are Edith E., Lester C, Raymond IL, Dorothy G. and 

Frank \V. 

Mary G. Henry-Howard", m. in 1S84 to Charles T. 

Howard, son of Henry and Catherine Greene-Harris- 

Hovvard. She died Oct. 26, 1893, leaving one living 

child, Frederick N. 

Frank G. Payson", ni. Lavinia May Drake in 1890 

One child, Lillian H. 

Gertrude H. Payson-PIoward", m. in 1897 to Charles 

T. Howard. They have a son Henry by this marriage. 

Their home is in Providence, R. I. 

Of most of the other children of Benjamin, Frank L. Greene's book gives full in- 

10 



I30 ^be (Brccne Jfamil^ 



y 



formation. Jonathan^ married Margaret Budlong, and three of his sons married 
Budlongs also. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and left numerous posterity. Clark* 
m. Mehitable, daughter of Henry and Mehitable Waite-Reynolds. They lived in 
West Greenwich and had ii children. Clark was born Aug. 2, 1751, and was 
married at 33. Elizabeth^ m. Joseph James, an officer in the Revolutionary 
War, in Col. Lippitt's Reg't. Their son, Rev. Henry James, was a well-known 
writer and Swedenborgian minister, and /;/j son, Henry James, Jr., is the popular 
novelist. Lois*, born 1755, m. her cousin. Sergeant Luke Greene*, [Joseph*, John^, 
Benj^. , John^.] They had 10 children. This was one of the important N. Y. lines. 
These, with the children already enumerated, complete the list of Mercy Rogers, the 
first wife's children. 

There yet remains a daughter Mary by Benjamin's last wife. Her posterity have 
been much bothered as to where she belongs. D. Byron Waite, the Waite family 
historian, thought her a second cousin of Gen. Nathaniel Greene, and the daughter of 
Benjamin Greene of Warwick. But the Benjamin of Warwick he gives had no Mary 
among his children.* His wife, Mary Fry-Gould, was a rich young widow with 
two children when he married her. One of these was indeed a INIary — Mary Gould — 
but she married the very John Allen spoken of in Chapter XX, the man who angered 
the British so that they burned the whole of Prudence Island in retaliation. 

The official records give Benjamin Greene's second marriage to Mrs. Anna Sweet. 
And to them was born Mary, March 24, 1766. Cross records of the Henry Greene 
family show that a daughter, Anna Greene, was the wife of a Greene. The de- 
scendants of this Mary, born March 24, 1766, are positive that her mother was the 
daughter of Henry and Margaret Rathbun Greene. They are also positive as to tMs 
Mary having a brother Clark, and a sister, Mrs. Elizabeth James. Besides this she 
named a daughter Mercy, afterher father's first wife, and another daughter Lois, after 
her half-sister. This identifies this Mary beyond question as the daughter of Benjamin, 
son of " White Hat ' John, and his last wife, Mrs. Anna Greene-Sweet-Greene. By 
her first husband Mrs. Sweet had a son. She had also a daughter Alice, whom the 
Waites think to have been a full sister to Mary Greene-Waite. I feel positive 
that she was a Sweet, and therefore a half-sister. Alice became Mrs. Budlong. Her 
son. Dr. Caleb Budlong, was a celebrated physician in his day. 

Mary Greene married Peleg Waite, Christmas, 1783. As pointed out in the Appendix, 
Thomas Waite was a great-grandson of the old Huguenot, Gershom Lascelle. Peleg 
was descended from Thomas thus : Thomas^, Reuben^, Thomas^, Thomas*, and 
Peleg*. The Waite ancestry itself was honorable and ancient. It will be found in 
the Appendix. Mary Waite out-lived her husband, almost completing her 96th year, 
and was a remarkably bright, alert old lady. She and her husband moved to Peters- 
burgh, N. Y., when their oldest child was a baby, and lived and died there. They 
had 10 children, Greene, Clarke G., Mercy, Thomas, Benjamin G., Alice, Tabitha, 
Mary, Lois and Laura. D. Byron Waite's book is almost entirely given to this 
family. I shall therefore only attempt to give the line of three descendants in whom 

I am particularly interested. 

Elvaton Waite\ was the second child of Clark &•>, the son of Ma- 
ry Greene-Waite*. He was m. (i) to Abigail Roble and (2) to Eliza- 
beth Benway. He is yet living in 1904, over 90 years of age. His 
children are Elvaton E., Mansir K., Maiden C, Josephine, Emma, 
Sarah E., Merton B. and Martha. 

Josephine Waite-Barker** of above m, Frank Barker of Roch- 
elle. 111., and has three sons, Frank, Perry and Maiden. She 
is a student of history, and particularly interested in genealogy. 
The author acknowledges her indebtedness to her on several points. 

♦See Allen's History of Quidnessett. which is exceedingly full as to this Benjamin and family. 



^be (Breene family 



131 




Mrs. McCrossen^'s lineage is this : Mary Greene-Waite was her 
grandmother. Her father was Thomas Waite®, born May i, 1791, 
and her mother was Chloe Roblee. They had six children, of whom 
only one left any issue. That one was Mary G. Waite, who married 
Dr. David McCrossen of Michigan. She is a widow. Her only daugh- 
ter is Medora, wife of William N. Perkins of grand Rapids, Mich. 
They have one son, Benjamin McCrossen Perkins^ 

D. Byron Waite', the 
historian of this Waite 
family, is also a grand- 
son of Mary Greene 
Waite^. His father was 
Benjamin G. Waite^ of 
N. Y., who married 
Mary Odell, a sister of 
Mrs. Lydia Baxter, the 
poet. Benjamin had six 
children. The daughters 
were Mrs. Mary Ball 
and Mrs. Augusta Bur- 
ton ; 2 sons died unmar- 
ried; Edwin was Sec- 
retary of State for Cali- 
fornia, when he died in 
1894. He left daughters 
only. D. Byron Waite, 
therefore, alone perpet- 
uates the name of all this 
family. He was a leap- 
year son, born Feb. 29, 1S28. By his first wife, Harriet Merinda 
Brown, he has B. Audubon, of British Columbia ; Buretta, who was 
Mrs. Drayton Muchler, and died at 21, leaving a son Percival ; and 
Percival Waite, of Kettle Falls, Washington. Byron Waite's present 
wife was Amanda Colvin. 

i\Ir. W^aite had his history in mind about forty years, and spent 
tvvro years of labor upon it, getting Old World records and early New 
England entries, etc. He found, according to his friends, that after all 
his pains, a few grumblers were ready to raise a hornet's nest about 
his ears — the usual reward of a genealogy hunter. He lives at Spring- 
water, N. Y, 
Jonathan* and Caleb Greene*. Little is known of them. Their descendants are 
supposed to be mostly in N. Y. 

Joseph Greene*, of " White Hat" John^, Benj^., John^. M. Margaret Greenman. He 
was head of another tremendous line, most of which reside in N. Y. Five of his sons were 
in the Revolutionary War, John, Edward, Perry, Serg't. Luke, and Lieut. Charles, and 
all were in Lieut.-Col. Van Rensselaer's Regiment of N. Y. Three of Joseph Greene's 
sons. Perry, John and Joseph, married three sisters, Sarah, Catherine and Hannah, daughters 
of Jonathan and Hannah Godfrey-Nichols, and lineally descended from Deputy Governor 
Benjamin Nichols of early days. Judge Edward Greene, one of Joseph's sons, was the 
great-grandfather of Frank L. Greene, A. M., author of the valuable family history already 
mentioned. 

Joshua Greene*, ["White Hat" John^, Benjamin^, John^.] He was the youngest of 
this large family. His line has been hard to trace because the whole family have been care- 
less about recording themselves. Joshua lived in Charleston, R. I. His wife was Mary Max- 



AUTHOR OF " WAITE GENEALOGY." 



132 ^be (Breene jfamil^ 



son, whom he married about 1755. There were at least S children, and perhaps more. Frank 
L. Greene gives the lines of Samuel, Edward, Maxson and Mary. I give the families of 
John and Caleb, sons whose lines have hitherto not been recorded in fauiily histories. All 
of Joshua s descendants, so far as known, went to N. Y. 

John Greene^. Born not far from 1761, and died in 1843. His family records 
were burned, but family names, iiiter-marriages, and corroborative circumstances 
show conclusively that he was Joshua's son. He went to New York City, but left 
before the close of the l\.evolutionary War, as unwilling to stay where the British 
were in possession. In 17S9, he located at Waterloo, N. V. His wife was Mrs. 
Sally (Beadle) Taylor. Of their children, Hannah m. William Norris ; Helania m. 
Albert Vredenburg, and Sally m. (i) a Wells, (2) Samuel Crandall. 

John Green®, m. Caroline Hutchinson or Jefferson ; 2 children. 
William Greene", m. his cousin, Elizabeth Beadle. 

David Green®, m. Mosher. 

Samuel Greene®, the fifth child, was b. June 23, iSii. His wife was Me- 
linda Haskins. Their son, Lorenzo^, lives at Spencer, N. Y. Himself of 
the good old Greene stock, and his wife, Mrs. M. A. Greene, descended from 
the Hunts and Cooks of early Plymouth, the Bovvensof Rehoboth, the Hugue- 
not family of Luce and the Quaker family of Fish, they naturally take a deep 
interest in genealogy and colonial history. . 
Caleb Greene*. M. Martha Spicer, Aug. 17, 1799. She was born in 177S, and 
he is thought to have been at least 5 years her senior. They lived in N. Y. Their 
children were these : 

William Greene®, 1800-1S55. Dau. is Mrs. C. A. Wells. 
Richard Greene®, 1S02-18 — . Married Lora Church, and in 1844 moved to 
La Grange Co., Indiana. A noted abolitionist, a noble, generous soul that 
did honor to his ancient name. No children. The author is a namesake of 
his wife. 

Thompson Greene®, b. 1804. D. in Alleghany, N. Y. 
Levi Greene®, b. 1807. D. in Ottawa Co., 111. 
Eldridge Greene®. Died in Oceana Co., Mich. 

George A. Greene®, 1S09-1S89. M. in 1832 to Julia Daboll. Had Mary, 
Richard and Martha. Mary is Mrs. Woods of N. Y. Richard is living on 
his estate of Greenhurst, Nampa, Idaho. 



To return to the other sons of Benjamin : 

BENJi\MIN GREENE', [Benjamin^ John^] He married Eleanor, 
daughter of Matthew and Eleanor Randall, March 19, 17 14. They lived at 
Westerly, R. I., and nearly all the line have been Seventh Day Baptists. 
They have been people most highly respected. 

Sarah Greene-Hiscox*, 1715-1753. M. Josiah Hiscox. 

Humility Greene-Greene*, b. Feb. 6, 1717. Frank L. Greene says'she married Icha- 
bod Randall. If so, she was left a widow so soon that she was spoken of by her maiden 
name, for she is certainly the Humility Greene that the official records say was married in 
1743 to Silas Greene, [Tohn", John^, John'.] Her line is given with her husband's in Chap- 
ter XV. See remarks in this chapter on Humility, dau. of Henry Greened 

Eleanor Greene-Lewis*, [Benjamin^, Benjamin^, John'.] B. March 2-, 1718 ; m. 
Amos Lewis, who was thus descended from the first R. I. Lewis of Westerly : Amos*, Jo- 
seph^, John^, John^ It is supposed that either they or Amy Greene-Lewis and husband 
were the grandparents of the Lewises who so freely intermarried with the line of Philip 
Greene, Eleanor and Amy's own cousin. The probabilities are all in favor of their descent 
from Eleanor. 



Zbc 6rccne ffanui^ 133 



Matthew Lewis*, m. Sept. iS, 1760, to Susannah Philips. 
EHzabeth Lewis-Paddock'', m to Thomas Paddock. 

Rev. Benjamin Greene Paddock^. His dau., Delia A., became the 
wife of Dr. Horace Lathrop. 
WiUiam Lewis'. Ahiiost beyond question Eleanor's son.'--' The only doubt is 
whether he was her son, or her sister Amy Greene-Lewis's. He was named for her 
cousin, Captain William Greene, of Westerly also. This William Lewis m. Abi- 
gail Middleton in 1760. 

William Lewis*' was a Revolutionary soldier when very young. Also was 
in the War of 1812. He m. Elizabeth Noyes. Her descent was this : Eliz.®, 
Wm.*, Deacon John*, Rev. James^ (one of the founders of Yale College), 
Rev. James^, Rev. Wm. Noyes^, Rector at Salisbury, England, in 1602. Eliz- 
abeth did not lack for pedigree. She was a great-great-great-grand-daughter 
of the Washington family itself, and was also a lineal descendant of the May- 
flower families of Alden, MuUins, Ro^^ers and Governor Bradford. 

William Lewis^, m. Esther Sisson, descended from Richard Sisson, 
an early R. I. pioneer, thus : Esther', Gilbert'', Wm.*, Wm.*, Thos.-^' 
Geo.^, Rich^. His daughter Caroline m. G. W. Tarbox, and hasher 
record with his, in Chapter XX. Another daughter m. A. H. Watkins 
of Cooperstown, N. Y. Their daughter is Carrie L. Watkins. 

Elizabeth Lewis-Grant'', mariied into the famous Emigrant Matthew 

Grant family, from which General U. S. Grant also sprang. Her only 

child is Mrs. R. H. White of Cooperstown, N. Y., a leading D. A. R. 

Henry Lewis", Veteran of War of 1812. Married MoUie Cheeseborough. 

Nathaniel Lewis^, Veteran of War of 1812. M. Hannah Cheeseborough. 

Phineas Lewis^, m. Margaret McKenney. 

Priscilla Lewis—Lewis^. She m. Charles Lewis. Her great-grandson is 

Carl A. Lewis^, the genealogist and publisher of Lewisiana, of Guilford, 

Conn. 

Benjamin Greene*, (Benj^. , Benj-., John\ ] b. March 2, 1720. It is supposed that he 

married Niobe Paul, 1742-3, at Newport. If so, he had Thomas, Penelope, Deborah, 

Anne, Nathaniel, John, Mary and Elizabeth. I believe these to have been his, although if 

it be true, as one reports it, that he died at 33, this could not be, as last four children were 

born after that date. 

Thomas Greene*, b. 1743 ; m. Sarah Matteson about 1763. They had Phebe, 
Ruth. Joseph, b. 1768 ; Matteson, b. 1772, and Mercy. 
Matthew Greene*, is the way the official records give it ; John Matthew, the private 
records have it ; 1722-1757 ; m. Judith Maxson in 1749. Three daughters and one son. 

Benjamin Greene*, m. Grace Rogers, 1781. Had Matthew, Benjamin, David, 
Amos, Esther, Lucy, Henry Paris, Thos. Rogers, and Paul. This is a large family 
and one that deserves more space given to it. 
Mary Greene-Briggs*, b. May iS, 1726. By a peculiar error the town clerk of East 
Greenwich recorded both Mary and her next younger sister. Amy, as children of Henry and 
Margaret Rathbun Greene. Cross records and private lists which have fortunately been 
preserved, agree in calling them Benjamin'^'s children. Amy, indeed, is actually recorded 
in the official records as belonging to both bi others. I have proof that both daughters be- 
longed where I no-v place them, as the sixth and seventh children of Benjamin and Eleanor 
Randall-Greene. 

Mary became the head of an important line. She was married at 22 to Captain Thomas 
Kriggs. Pioneer John Briggs was his great-grandfather. Richard Briggs, his grandfather, 



* Carl Lewis, the Genealogist, differs from the author. He says there is as yet no real proof as to 
who was the mother of William.* 



134 ^^^ (Brecne Jfainil)? 



married Susannah Spencer, daughter of John and Susannah Griffin-Spencer. See Appendix 
for particulars as to the Briggs and Spencer forefathers. One of the sons of Richard and 
Susannah was Francis, who married a daughter of Thomas'* and Martha Shippee-Matte- 
son. Capt. Thomas, a son of Francis and Mercy Briggs, was therefore a lineal descendant 
of five of the oldest R. I. families. 

The Captain was a sea-faring man of venturesome disposition. His shipwrecks, escapes 
and trying experiences are still a matter of tradition in the family. Capt. Thomas and Mary had 
eight children. Their descendants have been almost a family of teachers. Many of the 
sons have followed the sea, or their country's flag, or explored strange lands. Several of 
the daughters have been poets. 

Their immediate family embraced Caleb, b. 1749, Cary, b, 1751, Rachel, b. 1753, Francis, 
t>. 1755, Martha, b. 1757, Christopher, b. 1760, Humility, b. 1763, and Mercy, b. 1765. 
Of Humility and Christopher I have no record, Francis, called " Laut" or "Kip," mar- 
ried Marberry Jones at 20. He died, probably but a young man, in England. 

Caleb Briggs*, b. June 19, 1749, d. Nov. 14, 1828. When a young man he went 
to Dutchess County, N. Y., where were many families of R. I. extraction. 
Here he married Abigail Ryder, daughter of John and Freelove Hill— Ryder. Abigail's 
mother, Freelove Hill, was the daughter of Joshua and Judith Tucker-Hill. This 
Hill family were certainly of Lascelle-Wardwell descent. See Appendix. Joshua 
Hill was probably the grandson of Jonathan Hill, who went to R. I. in an early 
day. As to Abigail's Ryder blood, see under foot notes relating' to Jacob Baldwin. 
Caleb Briggs could not depart enough from his Quaker blood to bear arms during 
the Revolutionary War. However, his conscience allowed him to hire a substitute, 
and to make himself so active in various ways that the British made several attempts 
to capture him. Once his wife seized a gun and held a party of red-coats at bay 
until her husband escaped. They had six sons, Jonathan, Robert, Elias, Cary, 

Caleb and Solomon. 

Jonathan®, the oldest son, m. a Knapp. His daughters were Mrs. Abigail 

Mosher, Mrs. Polly Buckram, and Sally, who married a relative, Enoch, son 

of John Briggs. This last daughter had John, Pheba A. (Mrs. Stacey), 

Sarah A., Enoch, Eliza (Mrs. Barton), Mary (Mrs. Snyder), Frank and 

Virgil. Jonathan's only son is Caleb Thomas Briggs, b. March 17, 1820, 

still living in 1904, and an entertaining correspondent. He has two living 

children, Mrs. Harriet Willis, and Alfred Martin Briggs, who has a family of 

7 children. His dau. Elnora left a daughter, Inez Randall', and another 

daughter, Josephine, left a son. Amos Seymour'', 

Robert®, the second son, moved to Canada. He had Caleb and Jonathan. 

Cary®, m. a Knapp. He had two daughters, one of whom was Mrs. Adsit. 

Caleb®, m. Matilda Parks. They had several daughters and a son George. 

Solomon®, m. Betsey Buckbee. Eight children lived to marry. I have 

records of these. 

Jane Ann Briggs-Cook'', 1827-1876 ; m. Theodore A. Cook. He was 

of Quaker stock, and German descent, the name originally being Cook- 

ingham. A son of Jane A. is A. T. Cook (Augustus Theodore), the 

well known seedsman and flower-grower of Hyde Park, N. Y. 

Catherine Briggs-Eckert', m. Nelson Eckert of Greene descent. 

Their married children are William H. Eckert, and Mrs. Sarah E. 

Smith of Brooklyn. Both have children. 

Henry Jonathan Briggs''. m. Mariette Underhill. One son, Henry S. 

Abigail Briggs-Cookingham^, m. George W. Cookingham. 

Elias N. Briggs''. Had one daughter, Mrs. Imogene Butts. 

Isaac Briggs^. Children, Thomas, Elizabeth and Sarah. 

Elias Briggs®. third and remaining son of Caleb and Abigail, was b. Aug. 

lO. 1775 ; d. March 3, 1S37. His wife was Catherine Campbell Livingston 





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^be <3reene ffamil^ 135 

of Scotch descent on her mother's side. Her father was lineally descended 
from the fifth Lord Livingston, a guardian over Mary, Queen of Scots. This 
Lord's grandson, Rev. John, was a Cromwell sympathizer. Charles II ac- 
cordingly banished him in 1663, His son Robert, b. 1654, while yet a lad 
came with Holland neighbors to N. Y. He bought of the Indians 160,000 
acres of land on the Hudson River, which George I confirmed in a grant. 
The American members of the family have ever been noted for their brain 
power. Elias Briggs was an extensive land owner. It is quite probable that 
some of this land came by his wife, as the Livingstons had lands and to spare. 
She is said to have exhibited the family talent and sterling worth. 

Elias and Catherine had 11 children. William and Robert never married. 
Walter settled in Ohio. Nancy became (i) Mrs. Jonathan Evans, and (2) 
Mrs. Daniel L. Halsey. She had 7 children. Athaline m. John Collins, 
and was the mother of 5 children. Amy m. Orville Sackett, and had 13 
children, -two of whom died in the Civil War. Sarah ra. David Crego, and had 
two sons. Catherine m. David Duncan, and had 3 children. Melissa m. 
Hiram Shaw. Dr. Caleb C. Briggs, b. 1827, was the youngest of all. He 
•was a surgeon in the Union army, and at one time on duty on S. S. " North- 
ern Light." 

Abigail Briggs^ was the fourth child of this large family. She was 
a woman of strong personality, public spirited and high-minded. The 
Baldwin sons took much of their ambition from her. She married in 
1S06, Jacob Baldwin, son of Elisha Baldwin, Jr. and Jemina Ryder.* 
Abigail was the mother of 15 children 2 of whom died young. Philetus, 
Charles and Sarah M. never married. Her son Daniel P., was color- 
bearer in Co. C, 36th 111. Infantry. He was killed at the battle of 
Resaca, Ga., May 14, 1864. 

The second son of this family, Elisha Jacob Baldwin, m. 
Rhoda Rix. They had Frank H. and Eugene W. Charlotte J. 
Baldwin m. Eldad Hall, and has many descendants, mostly in 
Illinois. Frances J. became Mrs, Z. Bruyn, and the mother 
of Melissa A. and Hattie B. Miletus O. Baldwin has a family 

*The Baldwin descent is supposed to be from George Baldwin, in E. I. before 1653, and later living in 
Yorkshire, (now in the neighborhood of Hempstead.) L. I. From George, through Thomas, the line runs 
through James to Elisha, Senior, a Revolutionary soldier. This Elisha's son, Elisha, Jr., m. Jemima 
Ryder. Their son was Jacob who married Abigail Briggs. 

It is remarkable in how many respects the early history oftheKyders parallels the early history of the 
de Greenes. Osmond, companion of RoUo the Norseman, who gained Normandy, A. D. 912, was tlie head 
ofa'noble house. Several of this line were with William the Conqueror in the conquest of England, 1066. 
They bore the surname of Foliot. Before 1165, Jordan Foliot, a second son, had the good fortune to gain 
title and an estate. He at once assumed the name of de Rythre, which probably denotes that he held the 
ofiQce of King's Either, of Chief Forester, and through the King's personal favor enjoyed his sudden rise 
in the world. The name became corrupted into Eyder. 

Sir William de Rythre was a Crusader under the same Prince, Edward " Longshanks," 1271, as the un- 
fortunate third Lord de Greene, who died in Palestine that same year. Sir William's emblem was a blue 
banner bearing a device of three golden crescents- It has ever since been borne on the coat-of-arms of 
the family. Sir William, like the fourth Lord de Greene, accompanied Edward I in his war against Scot- 
land. Sir William, through his mother, was of close blood kin to Lady Lucia de la Zouche, ancestress of 
all the Warwick and Quidnessett Greenes, as both were descended from Eudo and Ala n. Earl of Little 
Britain. 

A dozen generations after this crusader Sir William came Thomas Ryder, who came to Mass. in 1635. 
His son— or grandson— John^ lived at Ij. I, and New York. A neighbor of his at Newtown. L. I., was a 
former Dutch ship-carnenter. Hercks Siboutszen Krankheyt, who had received a large grant of land. 
To him and his wife, Wyntie Theunis de Kay. were born 14 children. John Ryder^ married one of the 
daughters, Adriantie Hercks, in the Reformed Dutch Church of New York. June 27, 1690. Several Hol- 
land keepsakes are now in possession of the Briggs family, and are much prized. 

Then came Hercules-, Jacob'^. Rev. Joshua'^, and then Jemima', mother of Jacob^ Baldwin, who 
married Abigail Briggs. 



136 Zhc (Breene family 

of 12. Noah A. married Nancy Buchanan, a relative of President Buchanan, and has 
a family of 5. George W. m. Albina Regan. They have 3 daughters. Hattie M. be- 
came Mrs George Durand, and has one son, William Aithur. Arthur E. Baldwin 
is an attorney at Omaha. lie married Edith Langdon, and has two daughters. 

The remaining one of the 15 children is the eldest of them all. Lieut. -Col. EliasBriggs 
Baldwin*, was b. June 17, 1S34. He took an active part in the Civil War, being 
first, Captain of Co. C, 36th 111. Inf., then Quartermaster, and lastly Lieut. -Col. in 
the Sth Mo. Cavalry. His first wife was Julia Cornelia Crampton, dau. of Nathaniel 
and Lucy Hart (Dudley) Crampton, of Conn. His present wife was Lydia A. Gibbs, 
of Bridgton, Me. 

Lieut. -Col. Baldwin's first wife was a distant relative of his, she being twice de- 
scended from William Spencer, the early emigrant who was their common ancestor. 
Miss Crampton traced her descent from a dozen leading Colonial families of Conn., 
including a lineage from Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower. Her sons were Evelyn 
B., Milton Nathenial, and Burton Lincoln, The last wife's children were Edwin 
Miles and Mrs. Julia Anna Ball, of Oswego, Kansas, 

Milton Nathaniel Baldwin^, b. Dec, 24, 1863; m. Lucy, dau. of Arthur and 
Libby (Hughes) Bryant, a grand-niece of the poet William CuUen Bryant. 
Children: Edith Cornelia,' and Lydia Briggs, descended from Stephen Hopkins, 
paternally, and from Wm. Mullins, John and Priscilla Alden, and Francis 
Cooke, maternally, of the Mayflower. 

Burton Lincoln Baldwin^, b. Sept. 23, 1865; m. Minnie May, dau. of John 
Rhodes. Children: Walter Burton, Julia May, and Genevieve Cowles. 

Edwin Miles Baldwin^, 186S-1890. Died in his 22d year. Deputy Clerk 
of the District Court, Labette Co., Kansas. 

Julia Anna Baldwin-Ball^, b. Aug. 15, 1870. M. to Ollie W., son of Aaroa 
Ball. Children: Charles Edwin and Geraldine. 

Evelyn Briggs Baldwin^, the eldest of Lieut.-Col. Baldwin's family, was 
born at Springfield, Mo., July 22, 1862. He is sixth in line from Capt. 
Briggs, still remembered for his hazardous voyages. No doubt in his case, 
from his Hill-Ryder blood, there has been an out-cropping also of the old 
adventuresome Hugenot blood, once so plainly shown in the Pierce and 
King mariners and Buccaneers. Mr. Baldwin is a member of the National 
Geographical Society and of the New York Yacht Club. 

In 1893-4 he was with Peary's North Greenland Exposition as ist 
Meteorologist. In 1897 ^^^ visited Spitzbergen, as a volunteer to accompany 
Andree in his voyage toward the North Pole, but the unfortunate Andree 
and his two comrades taking advantage of a favorable wind, got away short- 
ly before Mr. Baldwin's arrival at the balloon station. In 1898-9 he was 
second in command of Wellman Expedition, Franz-Josef Land, and in 1901 
he organized and commanded the Baldwin-Ziegler Expedition. Mr. Bald- 
win has written a book of his experience, " Life in the Great White World," 
and has lectured extensively on Arctic life and Polar problems. He has a 
fine collection of mounted Arctic animals, Eskimo furs and implements, 
models of sledges, canoes, etc. 

Evelyn B. Baldwin is unmarried, and therefore free to give his life to 




EVELYN BRIGGS BALDWIN, (ARCTIC EXPLORER) 



ttbe 6reene jfamii^ 137 

liis chosen work, the search for the North Pole. With the ambition and 
energy of youth still his ; with the possession of a scientific training and 
years of real experience to aid him, and an enduring physique behind all, 
the world may expect to hear more of him in the years to come. 

Captain Gary Briggs^ [Mary Greene-Briggs*, Benj. Greene''", Benj.^, John',] b 
Aug. 19, 1751. He was m. in 1771 to Elizabeth, dau. of Josiah Jones. He served 
in the Revolutionary War, and after followed the sea for several years. He died in 
1839. Of his children, Sarah never married ; Gideon m. Nancy Morey, and settled 
in Canada ; Lucy and Polly married two brothers, Holden and John Moon, and left 
descendants. 

Benoni Briggs'', [Cary^, Mary*, etc.] His first wife was Mercy, dau. of 
Judge Rowland Hall of N. Stephentown, N. Y. By her he had these : Alma, 
whom. Josiah Whittemore of Erie Co., N. Y. She has descendants. Alvin 
Briggs' had no children. Rowland H. Briggs" m. Mercy Maria Bull, and had 
three daughters, Alma O., the poetess ; Electra M., who m. her father's sec 
end cousin, Gideon S. Hall ; and Caroline, who died unmarried. 

By his last wife, Mrs. Lydia (Morey) Hall, Benoni** had Benoni Jay, who 

m. (i) his third cousin, Alice M. Arnold, by whom he had Clarence and 

George D. Briggs, and (2) Lizzie McMahon, by whom he had Beatrice. 

Rachel Briggs--Hall,* [of Mary Greene-Briggs^, etc.,] b. March 21, 1753. M 

George Hall, a Revolutionary soldier, and a lineal descendant of Edward Hall, who 

came to Mass. in 1636. Some of their sons moved to Canada. Their daughters 

were Alice and Betsey. I have records of these sons : 

Reuben T. Hall^, m. Lydia Whitman. His son, Rhodes Whitman Hall, 
has a daughter, Mrs. D. L. Ashdown, and perhaps other children. Reuben^ 
was the father also of Sally (Mrs. Patrick Collins), Rachel, Phebe (Mrs. 
George Hackett, of 111.), Polly Ann (Mrs. Nathaniel Ilaskins, of Mass.), 
and Reuben T. Hall, Jr. of Pa. The latter had S children, one of whom is 
Mrs. Edith Butts of Farmington Hill, l;'a. 

Caleb Hall'', m. Lydia Morey. He had two sons. Caleb, Jr., and Gideon 
S. The latter m. the daughter of Rowland Hall Briggs. 
Gideon Hall^. Had a large family. Moved "West." 
Martha Briggs-Babcock^, [of Mary Greene--Briggs'', etc.], b. May 11, 1757. 
Married a Babcock. Her descendants are mostly in N. Y. Her son Silas' dau, 
Malina m. Elijah Arnold, and their dau. Alice m. Benoni Jay Briggs*. 

Mercy Briggs-Horton'', [of Mary Greene-Briggs*. etc.,] b. Aug. 3, 176';. She m. 
John Horton and lived on Black River, near Stephentown, N. Y. A dau. married 
Josiah Roberts. 
Amy Greene-Lewis*, [Benjamin"', Benj.^, JohnV] b. Sept. 10, 1727. Married Elisha 
Lewis, probably a brother to Amos. 
Caleb Greene*, b. March 21, 1729. 

Matthew Greene^, had son Squire^ with numerous offspring. 

Benjamin Greene*, 1769-1834 ; m. Bridget Wheeler in 1796. He had Benjamin, 

George, and daughters. 

Rev. Joseph Greene*, [Benj.^, Benj.''', John',] 1731-1796 ; m. Hannah Thurston. He 

was so faithful a minister that his church at Leyden, Mass., erected a monument to his 

memory. His children were Paul, m. to Deborah Cl.irke, and line living mostly in N. Y.; 

Keziah, wife of Dennis Taylor, 12 children ; Mary ; Benjamin, who m. Chapin in 

1797, and from whom an influential line has sprung. Manv of these are in Pa. 

HENRY GREENE\ [Benjamin^ John'.] He was of North Kings- 
town (Quidnessett), R. I. May 15, 1724, he married Margaret, daughter of 
Joseph and Mary Mosher-Rathbone. She was fifth in descent from Richard 



138 ^be (Brecne ffamili? 

Rathbun or Rathbone, [Margaret^, Joseph*, John'', John^, Richard'.] He 
lived mostly in E. Greenwich, bnt died in W. Greenwich. Beside his land, 
he left a thrifty fortnne of ;^2,667, over $13,000, or according to present 
values, about $40,000. 

It is generally held that the official records of this family are not trust- 
worthy. I have several authentic private and cross records, and can say 
with positiveness that the supposed errors arise from two things : (i) Con- 
fused record lines which make it hard to tell which birth date fits which 
child or who married who. (2) r\.n error by which 3 children belonging to 
a brother and a cousin were recorded as Henry's. Cross records of related 
lines, and private records have corrected all this, save that there is room for 
doubt as to the exact birth dates of some of the daughters. Henry and his 
wife had eight children. The 3 children recorded, that were not his, were 
Mary, born 1726, and Amy, born 1727, his brother Benjamin's children ; and 
Nathan, bom 1731, his cousin. Wealthy John's son. 

Humility Greene-Greene*, [lienry^, Benj.^, John',] married her second cousin, James 
Greene, son of Maroon Swamp James. Austin, Huling and Franic L. Greene all three say 
she married Silas Greene, the son of Wealthy John. But Silas married her cousin Humility. 
The two brothers, Henry and Benjamin Greene, each had a daughter Humility. Benjamin 
lived in Westerly, and Henry in the territory set off in 1741 as West Greenwich. Benjamin's 
Humility, had she married James Greene, would have been more than four years older than 
he — an improbable difference in that day. When James Greene*, [James^, John^, John^,] 
married his second wile, she is expressly mentioned as Humility Greene of JVest Greemvich, 
i. e. the daughter of Henry, who lived in that township. She was born Feb. 12, 1725. Her 
line is traced with her husband's, in Chapter XIV. 

Benjamin Greene*, [Henry^, Benj.^, John*, ] b. July 17, 1729. He married Mehitable, 
dan. of Job Tripp, lineally descended from John Tripp of Portsmouth, of the early colony. 
He died at Exeter, R. I., after 1804. They had 10 children who lived bej'ond infancy : 
Eunice, Waite (Mrs. George Moore), Henry, Margaret, Joseph, who m. Mary Lewis, 
Sarah, Benjamin Jr., Mary, Duty and William. 

Benjamin Greene^, of above, was the eight child of Benjamin and Mehitable. 
He was b. Aug. 13, 1764, and d. April 22, 1855, at Benton, Pa., in his 91st year. He 
was m. at 23 to Joanna, dau. of Captain Robert and Eunice Waite-Reynolds. Joanna 
was sixth from Thomas Waiteof Portsmouth, [Eunice', John*. Sam.^, Sam.^, ThosV] 
See Appendix. They had 12 children ; 3 died young or never married. The others 
wrere Henry; Sarah (Mrs. Hallstead); Mary (Mrs. Raymond); Robert, m. to Melissa 
Rice; William, m. to Celinda Capwell ; Hiram, m. to Eliza Dean; Lyman, m. (i) 
to Almira Capwell, and (2) to Mary Chase ; Nancy (Mrs. Dean) ; and Alanson B.. 
m. to Sybyl Dean. 

Dr. Henry Greene^, of above, was the oldest son. He was b. Jan. S, 178S, 
at Exeter, R. L, and d. Nov. 28, 1S25, at Factoryville, Pa. He was mar- 
ried in his 19th year to a young widow. Mrs. Almira Gardner, dau. of Sam- 
uel and Content ( Calkin ) Rice. Dr. Henry was esteemed a superior physi- 
cian and surgeon. He served in the latter capacity during the War of 1812. 
Norval Douglas Greene^ [ Dr. Henry«, Benj»., Benj*., Henry^ etc.,] 
b. Sept., 1S08, d. Jan. 17, 1901, in his 93d year. He m. (j) Ann Eliza, 
dau. of Isaac and Nancy Tripp-Vaughn. M. (2) Charlotte, dau. of Albert 
and Mindwell ( Schultz ) Felts. He was a merchant, starting into 
business for himself before he was 21. He was widely known 




DOUGLAS N. GREENE 

SYRACUSE, N. Y. 



^e (Brecne Ifamtl^ 139 



throughout northeastern Pennsylvania, and bore a high reputation for 
ability and unswerving integrity. By his first wife he was the father of 
six children, all of whom are now deceased. By his last wife he had 
three children, only one of whom is alive. 

Ellen Greene^, 1831-1846. Died at 15. 

Caroline Greene*, 1833-1851. D. at i3. 

Emily Greene-Warner*^, 1835-1877. M. Lewis B. Warner. 
She had one son, Nerval Douglas, b. 1859. 

Henry Greene*, 1837-1864. M. Sarah Knapp, and was the 
father of Alma I. (deceased), Henry L., and Clarence O. He 
was a member of a Pennsylvania Regiment, and died during the 
Civil War. 

Louise Greene-- Van Buskirk*, 1839-1SS4. She m. Clarence 
Van Buskirk, and had Stella and Maud Louise. 

Ann Eliza Greene*, 1841-18S4. 

Douglas N. Greene*, only surviving son of Nerval Douglas 
and Charlotte Greene, was born Oct. 8, 1844, at Scranton, Pa. 
He served in a volunteer Penn. Reg't during the Gettysburg 
campaign. He has his father's keen business acumen. Before 
he was 20 he entered the employ of the Delaware, Lackawanna 
and Western R. R. Co., in Coal Department, at Scranton, Pa. 
In less than six years he was Secretary and Treasurer, as well 
as director, of the Northern Coal and Iron Co. He has stuck to 
the coal business and is now one of a firm th^t has offices in 
several large cities for the sale of coal in the state of New 
York, and in Canada. Beside this he is identified with many 
other business interests. He is a bank director, Vice-President 
of -McMillan Book Co., and is an officer and stockholder in 
various large business concerns in Syracuse, N. Y., his present 
home. He is Vice-President of the Syracuse Chamber of 
Commerce, a member of various clubs and patriotic organiza- 
tions, an Elder in the Presbyterian Church, and director and 
treasurer of various charitable institutions. Evidently there is 
small chance for time to hang heavy upon his hands ! Mr. 
Greene was married Oct. 21, 1869. at Scranton, Pa., to Emma 
Christie, dau. of Joseph J. and Susan H. (Barton) Posten. 

Annie Posten Greene^, b. Feb. 3, 1872; d. at i month. 
Joseph Douglas Greene^, b. Feb. 3, 1874. 
Albert Henry Greene^, b.. Nov. 13, 1875; d. at 11 
months. 
William Cullen Greene^, [of Dr. Henry^, Benj^, Benj*., Henry^, 
etc.], 1810-1847. M- (i) Aurelia Stone, and (2) Sabra Stone, sister of 
the first wife. By his first wife he had Maria L. ( Mrs. Dean ), Benj- 
amin Marshall, and Josephine A. (Mrs. Smith). By the second wife 
he had Hortense B. (Mrs. Kennely) and Rhoda A. ( Mrs. Bailey). 

Emily Greene-Miller'', 1813-1835. M. Joseph B. Miller. Leftone 
son, Jerome G., a successful lawyer. He m. Emily Hollenback, and 
has 3 children, George H., Walter G. and John B. 

Marie Louise Greene-Stone', 1815-1842. M. Jeremiah Stone. She 
left two daughters, Mrs. Almira Northup and Mrs. Emily Perry. 

Leonidas Rice Greene', 1818-1881. M. Emily D. Leighton. They 
bad 2 children, both of whom died before their father. 



I40 Ebe (Breene ffamll^ 

Mary Greene-Pierce*, [llenry^, Benj.^, John^] Most probable date of birth, Jan. 6, 
1733- Given also as 1731. Siie was married in 1753 to George Pierce, son of Giles and 
Comfort Nichols-Pierce, and had quite a family. 

Anna Greene-Sweet-Greexe*, [Henry^, Benj.^, JohnKJ Two dates of birth given, 
but supposed to be Nov. 4, 1736. She married (i) Peleg (?) Sweet, and had a son Peleg, 
and it is thought a daughter Alice, who married a Budlong. When a widow, she married 
her cousin Benjamin, ["White Hat"John^, Benjamin", John^.] This marriage is given both in 
official and private records, the discovery of which clears up a one-time tangle. Benjamin 
and Anna's one daughter was Mary Greene-Waite^, whose line is given elsewhere in this 
same chapter. 

Job Greene*, [Henry*, Benj.^ John^]b. March 2, 1735. M. Meribah Carr of remote 
Lascelle-Wardwell blood. They had Eunice, Sarah, Henry, Margaret, Job, Nathan, 
Susannah. Meriba, Humility, Gardner, Polly and Amey or Amos. A large line. See Frank 
L. Greene's History. "* 

Catherine Greene-Pierce*, b. May 15, 1738. M. in 1760 to her sister Mary's brother- 
in-law, William Pierce, son of Giles and Comfort Pierce. 

Christian Greene-Greene*, b. 1740. This is one of the confused records. Cross re- 
cords prove her to have married Job Greene^, [Philip*, " White Hat" John^, Benj.^, John^] 
her cousin's son. They had a son Solomon. 

Jeremiah Greene*, b. April if, 1743. Probably married Deborah Campbell, July 
20, 1765. 

JOSHUA GREENER [Beuj.-, John\] He d. 1795. His wife was 
Mahitable . I have noofEcial records of his descendants, but it is prob- 
able that these are of his line. 

Hope Greene-Thornton, m. Borden Thornton, 1797. 

Samuel Greene, b. 1758 ; m. Mehitable Thornton, 1783. M. twice after that. 

William Greene, m. Phebe Brown, 1808. Had Samuel, Ruth, Duty, Benjamin, 
James, and Allen. By second wife had Mehitable, Mary and Sarah. 
By .\bigail, the second wife, Samuel Greene had these: Joshua Hospard, James A., 
Frederick Smith, and Peter Castoff. By third wife, Sarah, he had Samuel Towle and 
Randall Eldred. Of his sons, James A., b. 1796, had John Plerman, b. 1823, and Wil- 
liam Omen, b, 1832. 



PART THREE 

RELATING TO DESCENDANTS OF 
DEBORAH GREENE-KING AND SAMUEL KING 



Some may think an undue amount of space has been given to this 
house. I would say that my first intention was to confine myself exclusive- 
ly to Samuel and Deborah Greene-King's posterity. In presenting this I am 
giving what I first planned, but setting it off by itself so that those who take 
no interest in it can see at a glance what field it covers, and pass it by. 

Part Three has been laboriously searched out. Knowing that this sec- 
tion would meet the severest criticism, whether deserved or not, I have sub- 
mitted the full text of the Joel, Stephen, George, David and Cynthia King 
chapters, as well as that of the Barnes, Bradley, Lamson and Pierce, and 
the Henry, Richmond, George and Nelson Nichols' chapters to the heads of 
their lines, and have their full approval. From lack of time, it has not been 
done with the others, but the data has been furnished by those supposed to 
be most expert in their particular family history. 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE UNION OF THE GREENE AND LA VALLEY-KING LINES, THROUGH 
DEBORAH GREENE'S MARRIAGE TO SAMUEL KING " 

Deborah Greene'^ was the daughter of James Greene, grand-daughter of 
John Greene of Bristol, great-grand-daughter of Lieut. James, and great-great- 
grand-daughter of John Greene of Quidnessett, the emigrant. Old John of 
Ouidnessett had 800 years of certified pedigree behind him. It is given 
in chapter XI. This descendant, Deborah, born 49 years after his death, 
was the fore-mother of a great host. She took a new departure, — married 
outside of her family, and outside of the coterie of old Rhode Island families 
into which alone the Quidnessett Greenes seemed to feel a right to marry. 
Before we take up the personal history of her family, let us study the history 
of the two houses from which Samuel King sprang, — the Kings* and La 
Valleys. 



The Kings. There are in R. I. the Coventry Kings and the West 
Greenwich Kings. This is an English name, yet the West Greenwich Kings 
have always been credited with having come from France, not England. 
Traditions spring up in long settled communities like toadstools in dank 
ground. One story is that two brothers came from France, and settled ; the 
one in Coventry, the other in West Greenwich. Another is that at the 
time so many Frenchmen fled to R. I. for religious refuge, 1 685-1 700, that a 
Huguenot ancestor, Jean (John) La Baighn or La Quien came to Quidnessett, 
and that his name became corrupted into Kant, Kane and King. In ad- 
dition, the West Greenwich family have a half dozen versions of a half-Cid, 
half-Robinson Crusoe sort of an ancestor, who bore a charmed existence, 
and had as many lives as a cat. 

The true story is this : King is an old English name. There were no 

* At the beginning of my researches. I absolutely rejected all I had ever heard of John King, thongh 
it rested on the excellent authority of Mrs. Nancy Nichols, the first family historian. She heard it from 
the lips of her grandfather, own son of King, the Buccaneer- Nevertheless, it was so highly spiced a 
romance as to seem entirely improbable. I faithfully ran all evidence down, and have to admit the 
truth of the story, almost word for word as I heard it at first. This is an instance where truth is strang- 
er than fiction. 

143 



144 ^be (Breene Jfamil^ 

lords, or dukes, or marquises in their ranks. They were of the middle class, 
husbandmen and tradesmen. The first ones were lucky enough to be pat- 
ronized by some king. Just as at the present day, English shop-keepers put 
on their signs, " Hatter to his Majesty," or "Tailor to the King," so these 
ancestors paraded their royal patronage until their neighbors called them 
King's men (Kingmen). In time the name was shortened into King, 

Not far from London there lived a family of Kings, The)- became 
connected by marriage about 1600 or a little earlier with the semi-Hugue- 
not family of Lascelle-Wardwells. (See Appendix.) Records are scant and 
obscure. But apparently after 1565 a Lascelle girl married a Pierce, and 
their daughter married a King. The main point is that this infusion of 
Huguenot blood gave an adventursome, roaming disposition, and a spirit of 
resistance to religious coercion. It is not strange, therefore, that in the great 
anti-Laud emigration in 1635, that several of this famih' came to the New 
World. These were Michael, Thomas, William and John. It is not my 
purpose to trace the dispersion of these men. The Massachusetts Kings 
seem mostly from John, who with his wife Mary settled at Weymouth in 
1639. His descendants for a long time were nearly all seamen. It is prob- 
able that he was the uncle to whom his namesake was consigned 26 years 
later. Emigrant William's son William is believed to be the one of that 
name that in 165 — received 15 lashes on the bare back from a cat-o-nine- 
tails, because he had accepted Quaker doctrines. 

Thomas King of those mentioned, was 21 when he crossed the ocean 
in 1635. To him and his wife Ann was probably born Clement,* Clement 
who married and came to R. L, where we get the first notice of him at the 
birth of one of his children in 1682, He was the head of the Coventry 
Kings, with whom we have nothing more to do. 

A King brother remained in England. He lived in London and was 
a man of means. One of his younger children was born in 1654, and 
named John. He was a puny mite of a child, that gave small promise of 
growing up. When he was eleven years old, the plague struck the city of 
London. This was the Black Death that made the year of 1665 memorable. 
The disease began with a chill and giddiness ; great boil-like swellings and 
livid spots like bruises appeared upon the body, followed by violent vomit- 
ing, convulsions and death. 

The country was wild with terror. Cordons of troops were thrown a- 
round the city, and not a soul permitted to leave it. The ships were not 
allowed to leave the quay. London became a charnel house. Though lime 
was sprinkled in every house, and great fires keep burning at the crossings of 
the streets, the very air was putrid, 70,000 people died. Men were crazed 

* Circumstantial evidence— not official records. 



Zbe 6recne family 145 

through fear. Others committed suicide to escape the loathsome death of 
the plague. Each day the dread cry resounded along the streets, — " Bring 
out \-our dead ! " Sometimes there were none to answer, for onh- festerine 
corpses remained within. 

Whole families died, and their bodies were flung without ceremony into the 
horrid plague trenches of Bone Hill. The Black Death reached the home 
of this King. It took the father, the mother, the sons and daughters, all 
save one, and he the poor weakling. When the plague ceased, a friend of 
the child's father hunted up a sea captain about to sail for IMassachusetts. 
Little John stood by and saw this good friend pay the captain the passage 
money for the child, and heard him charge him to deliver the boy to his 
uncle in the colony. 

On the voyage the captain changed his plans and sailed to Providence, 
R. I., instead. Arriving there, he claimed the lad was a waif and owed him 
for his fare. To recompense (?) himself he bound the boy out until he 
should be 21, and pocketed the money for his indenture. The boy was so 
small that the captain passed him off for seven, so that he had 14 years to 
serve as a bound boy. However, he was kindly treated, and fortunately 
grew strong and robust. He became a seaman, and an expert one. He was 
a bachelor, with no ties to bind him to the shore.* His excitement-loving 
Huguenot blood was strong within him. It was the palmy days of the 
Buccaneers, and John King became one of them. The Buccaneer of that 
day stood in relation to the common sailor as Roosevelt's Rough Riders 
stood with the common soldiers of the Spanish-American War. His calling 
v.'as legitimate enough, but there was dare-deviltry enough mixed up with 
it to attract alike romantic men of morals, dashing adventurers and cool- 
headed criminals. 

If there were incarnate fiends among them, like Captains Teach and 
Blackbeard, there were other captains who regularly held morning devo- 
tions with their crew. There were Buccaneers who used to read their Greek 
Testaments for pastime, and not a few who rose high in honor in the king's 
service. The only requirement was that every man should live up to Sir 
John Hawkins' motto, " Hate the Don f like the Devil's limb," and be ready 
to take his life in his hand to revensfe himself on them. 

Spain's treachery and cruelty began the trouble, which lasted over 100 
years. She had rich possessions then in the West Indies and South Ameri- 
ca. Her enemies fitted out privateers against her. Whenever they could 
capture a Spanish ship they took her and her cargo for their own. When- 

* 111 after years he said that never but onee in his life did he ni>--^t a kinsman after he left England at 
11 years of age. That one was one of his Massachusetts sailor cousins. 

t Don. a cant term for the Spaniard. 

11 



146 ^be (Brccne J'aniil^ 

ever they could capture a Spanish town they did so, and burned and looted 
the place. There was bloodshed and cruelty on both sides. Admiral Blake, 
Sir John Hawkins, Prince Rupert, Prince Maurice, and other titled men 
were in this desultory warfare. Buccaneers, filibusters and freebooters were 
some of the names they were called. The Spanish called them Sea Devils, 
Wankers and Cobras of the Sea. Their names for themselves were Sea 
Rovers and Brethren of the Coast, and they called their bloody work " Singe- 
ing the Spaniard's beard." 

In John King's day Holland, France and England were all united 
against Spain. There was great rivalry among them for adventure. Some 
of their ships sailed around the world. They doubled Cape Horn, they ex- 
plored the Pacific, they touched China, they cruised around Africa. Adven- 
tures, shipwrecks, fighting, looting and hardships fell to the lot of all. Now 
they were half starved, and now again rolling in riches. Damphier, a Buc- 
caneer, one of the first to sail around the world, had at one time 1,000 cap- 
tured slaves on his ships. Cavendish, after a rich haul, sailed into London, 
his sails damask, his top sail cloth of gold, and all his sailors clothed in silk. 
John King himself used to say in after years that it was " a hard life and 
wicked life, but a merry one." 

Tradition says John King commanded a Buccaneer ship. There is no 
proof of this. What we do know is that for some years he was one of the 
crew, probably an under officer of the ship commanded by Captain Robert 
Kidd.* Kidd was a celebrated Buccaneer, noted for his cool, nervy daring, 
and for his many hard tussels with the Spaniards in the West Indies. 

A few vears before the close of the centurv treaties were made, and 
England withdrew her privateers. Henceforth, to rob Spanish ships would 
be piracy and not reprisal. Not a few who had followed that calling for 
years failed to make the fine distinction, and kept on in the old way, Spain 
complained. The English government then commissioned Capt. Kidd, in 
1695, to clear the West Indies of all piratical craft. For a time he did this. 
But the life was too tame for him. Leaving New York in 1697 with a crew 
of 155 men, he coolly turned pirate himself, and was not particular as to the 
nationality of the ships he robbed, at that. 

One of the first ships that surrendered to his guns had John King on 

* Legally, he was William Kidd, and commissioned as such. However, he was always called Robert. 
There is an old, old song extant, beginning. 

" My name was Robert Kidd, 
As I sailed, as I sailed. 
My name was Robert Kidd, 
As I sailed," 
Kidd was superstitious. Believing he could succeed as a pirate only by the favor of the Evil One, it 
is said that before lie unfurled liis black flag he buried his Bible in the sand, in the presence of his crew. 
It is also said that each chest of his treasure was buried with blasphemous incantations to the DevU to 
protect his own. 



<rbe (3rccne ffainil^ 147 

board as a seaman. Kidd promptly invited (?) his old crony to join the 
crew. The penalty of refusal would have been to have walked the plank 
into the ocean, or to have been marooned on some uninhabited island.* 
King had no relish for either. He joined the crew. Kidd mistrusted his 
sincerity, however, and watched him so closely that it was months before an 
opportunity to escajDe came to him. 

The Adventure^ the pirates' craft, crossed the ocean. Kidd went first 
to Madeira, then down the African coast, and around the Cape of Good 
Hope to Malabar and into the Red Sea. He captured several jMoorish ves- 
sels, and had a hot fight with a Portuguese ship, in which he was worsted 
and glad enough to get away. Afterwards he captured two rich ships. He 
took his crew into one of these, the Qiiedagh Merchant^ and at IMadagascar, 
on his way back, burned the badly riddled Adventure. He came back along 
the African coast. 

Here the official records for a time cease. From King's own narrative, 
Kidd ventured through the Straits of Gibraltar, then not owned by the 
English, and less closely guarded than now. The Algerines were notorious 
and savage pirates. Doubtless he wished to recruit his numbers there, for 
the records show that he at once crossed the ocean afterwards to the New 
World. It was at the close of this return trip that Kidd is said to have 
buried the im.mense treasures that have been searched for so unavailingly. 
He was captured in 1699, tried and executed in 1700. 

It was in Algiers that King's opportunity came to escape. The French 
were on particularly friendly footing in Algeria, and ships plied constantly 

between Algeris in Northern Africa and the city of Marseilles on the Med- 
iterranean coast in Southern France. King had learned to speak French 
from the French Buccaneers. He passed himself off for a Frenchman, man- 
aged to get on board a French ship, and crossed over to Marseilles. 

Where he went from Marseilles is conjecture. We only know that he 
lived and died in South France. He escaped in 1698. He was then an old 
bachelor of 44. He became smitten with the charms of a French woman, 
and in 1699 married her. There are reasons to believe that but one 
child was born of this marriage. This was a son, Magdalen, born Aug. 23, 
1702. 

Magdalen's feminine name has puzzled many. It is a French fashion, 
if the god-mother of a child is of a superior rank, to compliment her by 
christening the child after her. Thus one of the Due de Montmorencies was 
Anne, because his god-mother was the French queen, Anne of Austria. 

* Alexandei- Selkirk Tas a marooned Buccaneer. In iTio'he was rescued from tlie island of Juan Fer- 
nandez, wheie he lived for years in solitude. De Foe took Alexander Selkirk's experience as the foun- 
dation of his famous Robinson Crusoe. 



148 Zhc 6reene ffamll^ 

Ivlany other instances could be given. Magdalene was a favorite name in 
Southern France, because it was believed that the Mary Magdalene of the 
gospels, fleeing from religious persecution, came to Southern France and died 
there. Mediterranean France was honeycombed with Protestantism, par- 
ticularly the nobility. Some high-born Magdalene, that John King and his 
wife were particularly proud of being favored by, became their only son's 
sponsor. In her honor they named him Magdalene. He always wrote it, 
however, without the final e. 

It is supposed that John King lived until about 1740, being not far 
from 86 at his death. Escaping as he did, he saved but one memento of his 
many years upon the deep. This was an object neither valuable nor rare. 
It was a large conch shell, with the apex bored out so that it could be 
blown as a horn. It was a particularly good one, with a peculiar deep boom 
that could be heard a long distance. Whether as a trusty he carried it with 
him as he left the ship at Algiers, to call the boats to him if he found re- 
cruits, or food supplies, or whatever he was sent on shore to obtain, or whether, 
sailor-like, he regarded it as a mascot, from some incident connected with 
it, and carried it with him for good luck, will never now be known. His 
son INIagdalen brought it with him to America, and gave it to his middle 
son, Samuel. Samuel King, in 18 14, on a visit to his daughter in N. Y., 
gave it to her youngest child. Nelson Nichols, then a child but 2 years old. 
It is now in the possession of V. D. Nichols, of San Jose, California. 

The only other thing known of John King is that he suffered from 
gout, brought on by the wine-drinking carousals of his Buccaneer days. 
Some of his descendants are the most rigid of abstainers, but when the rheu- 
matism or the gout gets hold of them they have a practical reminder that 
the sins of the fathers are yet visited upon the children. 

As his son married a La Valley, the history of that house will next 
be eiven. 



&' 



The La Valleys. After the Roman Empire fell, more than a dozen 
centuries ago, Gaul (France) was then conquered by the Franks. Their 
chiefs were counts, petty kings in all but name, making their own laws, 
waging private wars, and coining their own money. Very proud, haughty, 
and over-bearing were these heads of Frankish houses. One of the proudest 
was the house of de la Valle, once the second most powerful family in all 
France. 

They were the autocrats of the valley of the Loire, the chief river of 
France. Not at all modestly they chose their surname, de la Valle, as 
though they alone were f/zj family of that great water-way from the inland 
mountains of France to her ocean line, 600 miles away. A thousand years 



^be Greene yamil^ 149 



has brought many changes to the name. It is variously Valle, Vallee, de 
la Val, de la Valan, La Valliere, Le Valley and La Valley. The name be- 
came della Valle in Italian, De Laveleye in Belgian, and De Ovalle and de 
Ovaglie in Spanish. But always, from the great dukes to the poorest un- 
titled one of the name, they were proud of their old blood, and of the special 
privileges that France granted them up to 1792, when in the Reign or Ter- 
ror all these were abolished and their records burned. 

The present Queen of Holland and Emperor William of Germany are 
both proud, it is said, of having the blood of this house in their veins. It 
came to them through their famous ancestor, William of Orange, who mar- 
ried Louise, daughter of Admiral de Coligny and his wife, Charlotte de la 
Val. No brighter name is on the page of France's heroes. He owed his 
fame as the dauntless leader of the oppressed Huguenots solely to his wife's 
influence. In the presence of the whole village she arose and, wdth deep 
emotion, declared her belief in the reformed faith ; and that though it might 
cost her wealth, position and life itself, she would cast in her lot with the 
people of God. He was so moved he followed her example. At once he 
became a leader. For 1 2 terrible vears he f ouo;ht at the cannon's mouth to 
win a right for the people to worship God after their own conscience. 
Tricked by a false truce into Paris, he was one of the first of the 30,000 vic- 
tims slain in the massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day, Aug. 24, 1572. 

The spirit that animated this old family is seen in the motto of Admiral 
Andre de Lavel. His coat-of-arms represented a burning, flaming oar, 
with this motto underneath : " Pour un Aultre Non ! " A poet thus in- 
terprets its meaning : 

"... .When I give, I give my all, 
For her my love, for him my friend, 
My steel, my gold, my life I spend ; 
Mv sword shall flash, mv blood shall flow 
For these. But /or another, No/ 

"Show me but cause for quarrel strong, 



Then through the wave I winged will fly, 
Will cleave with oars the yielding sky, 
Will flame through ocean, float through air, 
Will all things suffer, do, and dare, 
For friend I love, for cause I know, 
I fight ! But /or aught other, ^"0 ! "' 

— Dora Greenwell. 

Aost of us have thought Bluebeard a nursery myth, but the tale is only 
an exaggerated libel of one of this family. Giles de Laval, Lord of Raiz, 



ISO Zbc (Brecnc ffanuli^ 

and jMarshal of France in 1429, was nicknamed Bluebeard by his soldiers, 
because of his thick beard, so inky black as to be really blue-black. He 
. was brave but cruel, and his men hated him. The Duke of Brittany, his 
rival, wanted him out of his way. Getting him in his power, the Duke lent 
a willing ear to the most absurd charges. Testimony was given that Laval 
practiced sorcery, and that he killed children to use their blood in his incan- 
tations. He was therefore burned at Nantes, in 1440, in punishment for 
these murders it was-pretended he had committed, and for crimes against 
the state. 

Only two years after brave Coligny was assassinated, Geoffroi Vallee 
wrote a sarcastic infidel work, "Z« Beatitudes des Crestieiisy He was tried 
for the offense, condemned, and hung in Paris, Feb. 9, 1574. Afterwards 
his dead body was burned. 

So if any one is unduly elated over his 12-centuries transmitted La 
Valley blood, let him think of Geoffroi Vallee and Bluebeard, and restrain 
his ardor. 

The greatest of houses cannot have all its members wealthy or titled. 
Some of them must gravitate toward the middle classes. Thus it happened 
that ]\Iagdalen King, without a title, and without a fortune, yet married a 
wife of the proud La Valley stock. 



Magdalen King was born Aug. 23, 1702, in Southern France. He had 
a slight infusion of Huguenot blood on his father's side, while his mother 
was wholly French. He was tall, fair, and blue-eyed. Magdalen was a 
most devoted son, and to the day of his death, he never tired of rehearsing 
John King's many adventures. At about 25 he married IMarie La Valley, 
of a protestant family of that name. 

Her father, Peter La Valley or La Vallais, had several grown children 
by 1725, so that his own birth must have been not far from 1675. ^i^ 
wife's name was Suzanne. This was a favorite name with the French of 
that day. From the story in the Apocrypha of Susannah and the Elders, 
they took Suzanne to represent the persecuted church. Nearly ever}^ French 
religious family had a Suzanne in it. ]Mrs. La Valley appears to have died 
in France many years before her husband. Peter's family consisted of at 
least three sons and his daughter Marie. 

]\Iarie La Valley was a woman of remarkable individuality. Across the 
gulf of nearly two hundred years she stands out before us, a sharply distinct 
personality. We know how she looked. We know her disposition. We 
even know of her headaches, and of the puddings she used to make. 

She had plenty of the family pride, though she had too much sense to 
parade it. Her conversation was witty, brilliant and sparkling, yet beneath 



Zbc 6rccne Jfamil^ 151 

it ran the family reserve. She locked her private affairs and her heart's 
secrets from outsiders, and kept her plans to herself. 

Marie La Valley was energy personified. She was steam and electricity 
in human form. She never knew she was tired until she was rested aeain : 
never knew she was sick until she got well ; and never knew she had a hard 
or discouraging thing to do until it was over with. What she undertook 
she carried through, and no opposition or obstacles ever stopped her. She 
kept more irons in the fire than half a dozen ordinary women, but none of 
them ever burned. She bore lo children and raised them. She kept her 
house in apple-pie order, and another such a famous cook the annals of the 
family do not record. To this day her cream biscuits, her roly-poly pud- 
dings, her dried beef, shaved into wafer thinness, cooked in cream, and 
served with split biscuits, are handed down in memory. 

Very proud of his stirring, bustling, quick-stepping wife was Magdalen. 
Very proud her descendants have been of her. But this woman of intense, 
high-strung organization, though she lived to extreme old age, salted her 
whole line with weak hearts, headaches and nervous disorders. A little less 
steam pressure would have been better for them. 

Marie La Valley was of medium height. She was dark, and had ex- 
pressive black eyes. She had the mobile countenance of a true French 
woman, her face lighting up and reflecting every emotion or animation as 
she talked. She had several descendants that resembled her, and two that 
in looks were herself over again. Those who have a curiosity to see how she 
looked will please turn to the frontispiece,^ for the author is one of the two.* 

Six of Magdalen and Marie's laree familv were born in France. These 
were Grace, Suzanne, Elizabeth, John, Mary and Sarah. The La Valleys 
were strong in their religious convictions. There had been a few years' lull 
in Huguenot persecutions, but now trouble began again. In 1724 Louis XV 
issued a severe edict against all protestants. They were not allowed to as- 
semble for worshix?, to have their marriages celebrated, children baptized, or 
dead put away by the rites of their church. This edict was a little slow in 
making itself felt where the protestants were strong. Gradually it was en- 
forced more and more, and caused much distress to all godly minded 
Huguenots. 

Manv of them took refuse in other lands. Two of Peter's sons, Peter 
Jr. and David, went to the iVmerican colonies. We find them both at ]\Iar- 
blehead, Mass., by 1727. Both were ship-masters. Peter Vallais, — for so he 
wrote his name, — became an intimate friend of Peter Faneuil, who built 

* Nothing ever eausf-d me more annoyance in ray childhood than the frequent exclamation of old 
people— " She is the image over of Aunt C, and everyone said s/i.6 was the dead picture of the French- 
woman." 



152 OTe 6rcenc ffanulp 

famous Faiieuil Hall and presented it to Boston. He was not only Fan- 
euil's ship-master, but was considerably trusted by him in important com- 
mercial transactions. 

The other La Valleys remained in France. John King was old, and 
wanted to end his days there. His son would not leave him. Peter would 
not leave his daughter. But the heathenish way in w^hich they had to bring 
up their children was a sore trial to them. Grace, the oldest child, was bap- 
tized. None of the rest of them had been churched. When once Magda- 
len's father had paid the debt of nature, — which is supposed to have been in 
1740, — La Valley, now getting to be an old man, his son-in-lav/'s family, 
and a son or two of his own, set sail for America, probably in one of the 
ships that were in charge of his ship-master sons. The family came straight 
to Marblehead. Neither Peter La Valley nor ^Magdalen King liked it there. 
There was a new exodus. 

One of La Valley's sons, possibly that Peter or David that had been so 
long in ]\Iassachusetts, but more probably a younger one newly from France, 
went to what was known as the Royal Grant. This was in Vermont, and 
was a new region just being opened up. He remained there, and the Ver- 
mont line of Le Valleys still continues. Peter, together with Magdalen's 
famil}^, and a younger son, went south to Warwick, R. I., where at French- 
town there was a good-sized Hus^uenot settlement. Thev arrived there in 
1 74 1. Here ]\Iagdalen stayed for 12 years, and here Peter La Valley died. 

At a part of Warwick called Cowesit, Rev. Dr. James ]McSparran, a 
noted Episcopal minister, had established a mission church. Nearl}- all 
Huguenots affiliated with either the Episcopalians or the Presbyterians. 
Dr. McSparran thought it a promising opening. The wealthy church at 
Newport gave him their first church building, a substantial and sightly edi- 
fice. It was taken to pieces, loaded on sloops, and carried to Cowesit, then 
rebuilt. It proved a great disappointment to the good doctor, who could 
never build up much of a following. He saw more results with the new- 
comers than with any of the other French settlers. These last gladly availed 
themselves of church privileges. 

July 16, 1 741, Dr. McSparran baptized all the children but Grace. She 
had been baptized in France. Four times more in the next ten years, he 
records another child baptized, as Ann, Samuel, Margaret, and Paul were 
added to Magdalen's family.* 



*From records of St. Paul's Church, Narragansett, R. I., Dr. McSparran's own writing. 
"Baptisms by Dr. James McSparran, Episcopal Missionary of the Venerable Society of England, for 
the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign parts. 

King. 
Susannah of Magdalane at Coesit. July 12, 1741 
Eliza, of Magdalane at Coesit. July 12, 1741 







3 1 

Try >• 

t-- en 

w S; 



Z\)c (Brccne Jfamil^ 153 



The genial doctor, a cultured and brainy man, became a warm friend 
of Peter La Valley, and remained so until the latter's death in 1756. The 
old Frenchman was buried in the mission graveyard at Warwick. The next 
year Dr. McSparran died, and the mission was given up. The church was 
once more torn down and carried on sloops to the shore of another town, 
preparatory to being again built up. A terrible storm arose, and when it 
had spent its fury, it was found that every stick of timber had been swept 
into the ocean. Such was the end of the old church in which all but one 
of Alagdalen King's children were baptized. The Kings grew up and found 
other church homes. None of them were ever connected again with this 
church in whose faith their grandfather died. 

The name of the son of Peter ha. Valley that remained at Warwick, I 
do not know. This son was married in France, and had Peter, Michael, 
and John, born in France. His other children, Stephen, Marietta, Susan 
and Christopher, were probably all born in R. I. No attempt is made to 
trace this line beyond the first generation. His line all write their name 
Le Valley. 

Three years before Peter La Valley died, his daughter's family moved 
a few miles away from Warwick. Magdalen purchased a 200-acre tract 
of land in West Greenwich Township, about a mile from the East Green- 
wich line. It was on what was called the Division Road, or the Providence 
and New London Turnpike, near what was known as Webster's Gate. 
Magdalen built what was considered a large and good house in those days. 
He cleared the farm up in good shape, excepting a few rough, rocky points. 
One of these was Rocky Hill woods. In one place there was a fiat ledge known 
as the Threshing Ro^ks, because for years the farmers in the vicinity 
brought their grain here and threshed it out with flails upon the rocks. 

At another point in the same woods were the Indian Rocks. Before 
the white man's day, the Indians used to come here and hold their feasts. 
The rocks rise abruptly 30 or 40 feet high. A shelving rock overhangs 
the base in one place, making a fine shelter from storms. It is a shady nook, 
and the ground is carpeted with pine needles. Here the last Thursday in 
August, the Magdalen King clan annually meet, and hold a clam-bake. 

Magdalen King died in 1775, the year that the Revolutionary War 
began. He was buried on a slight rise of ground on his farm. In time two 



John of Magdalane received in cliureh at Coesit, July 12, 1741. 
Mary " 



Sarah " 
Ann " 
Samuel of " 

Margaret of " 



Aug. 22, 1742. 
April 21. 1745. 
Oct. 16, 1748. 



Paul " " May 19. 1751 

Grandchildren of Mr. La Valley." 



3 54 ^J^c Greene famllp 

or three generations were buried there. About 1850 the cemetery was en- 
closed by a faced and capped wall, and an iron gate placed at the entrance. 
It is kept in presentable shape by the kindred. The farm passed out of the 
family's possession in 1839. The house was burned soon after. The prem- 
ises are now one of the typical deserted New England farms, grown up to 
scrub oak and pitch pine. The old Threshing Rocks are used as a quarry, 
and manv factories have been built from them. 

Magdalen's son Samuel always lived on the home place. His mother 
outlived her husband 17 years, dying between 85 and 90 years of age, in the 
year 1792. The order of births of Magdalen's older children is mostly 
unknown. 

GRACE KING^ oldest child of Magdalen and Marie, married an 
Englishman and moved to Canada. The last ever heard from her she wrote 
to her sister and brother-in-law, Susan and Job Nichols, lamenting that her 
sons were all in the British army, fighting against her brother and nephews 
in the Revolutionary War, 

SUSAN KING-NICHOLS'. Born in France. Named Suzanne for 
her cfrandmother La Vallev. The name was later ans^licized into Susan. 
She married Job Nichols. See Chapter XV. On his father's side he had 
this descent : Hon. Thomas Nichols^ John^ (b. 1666), John" (b. 1689), 
John^ father to Job. On his mother's side he had Wardwell, Hill and Greene 
blood, the last line running thus : John Greene of Quidnessett\ Lieut. John", 
Wealthy John'^, and Ann Greene-Nichols^, who was his mother. 

We know little of this couple. They lived in Providence. Susan was 
said to have had the French talent for fine cooking. Her family inherited 
this gift, even her sons excelling in that art. Job and Susan had more than 
one son in the Revolutionary War. Their son David married Nancy, his 
uncle Samuel's daughter. His line is traced with hers, among her mother, 
Deborah Greene-King's descendants. See Chapter XXXIII. 

JOHN KINGl Born in France. Married March 30, 1758, to Deliv- 
erance Spink. Deliverance was born April 9, 1735. She was descended 
from Robert Spink, one of the early Quidnessett settlers. Robert and Alice 
had Capt. Ishmael, who was born in 1680, and was exceedingly well known 
in his day. His wife was Deliverance. They had Benjamin, who was the 
father of Deliverance who married John King. All of John King's line 

have been money-makers. 

William King*, b. March 22, 1759. 

Rachel King*, March 16, 1761. 

Paul King*, m. Dinah . They had Mary, b. 1790, and Philip, b. 1792, I think 

it very probable that this record belongs to his uncle Paul. See last page of this chapter. 

Wanton King*, m. Sarah Matteson, a most saintly woman. They are believed to have 
moved to Pompey, N. Y. They had Ward. b. 1800 ; Phebe. 1802 ; Thomas M., b. 1803 ; 
Susannah, b. 1805 ; and a Winton or Wanton, a few years later. 













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^be Greene fmml^ 155 



JoK King*. He moved to N. Y. Married Eunice Albro. They had Job, Paul and 
Henry. For her descent from " Quaker John" Albro, see Chapter XXXV, Their son 
Paul moved to Ohio. Paul's son John lives in Chicago and is worth §2,000,000. Paul 
probably had sons Volney and Lorraine also. Job, Jr., also moved to Ohio. Henry mar- 
ried Cvnthia Nichol?, his second cousin. His line is traced with hers, in Chapter XXXV. 

ELIZABETH KIXG-MATTESONl Born in France. IMarriecl 
Oct. I, 1 761, by Rev. Preserved Hall to John ]\Iatteson, son of jMartha 
Greene-j\Iatteson, and grandson of John Greene of Bristol. They had a son 
Philip. His son was Asa, who ni. ]\Ieribe Potter, and had Clark, James and 
John Matteson. 

John Matteson was a prominent man. He was deacon for many years in Maple Root 
Church. He died about 1902. In 1S47 he m. Elsie Andrews, [Elsie', John^, who m. An- 
tha Sweet of King-La Valley descent, Timothy^, Elnathan*, who m. Jane Greene, Han- 
nah Greene— Andrews^, Lieut. John Greene-. John Greene of Quidnessett^.] She was 
related to him five times over. They had g children, one of whom died at 14. 

Elihu Matteson, b. 1S49 ; m. a cousin. Roby Ellen Andrews. They have Annie. 
Gertrude, Byron L. and George A. 

Phebe Josephine Matteson-Greene, b. 1861. Wife of Oliver, of Horace and 
Alice Greene— Greene. [Alice', Jas^., Abei^, Jas*., John of Bristol'^ Lieut. James-, 
John of Quidnessett^] Their dau., Mariette is Mrs. Rhodes Allen, and has a child, 
Maud Hazel. Their son is Lowell James, and their younger daughter, Elsie, is Mrs. 
Charles Andrews, and has one son, Charles, Jr. 

Charles James Matteson, b. 1853 ; m. Mary Amanda of Eben, and Susan Fish- 
Matteson, thrice related to him, and herself of King— La Valley descent. Their oldest 
son, Frederick, m. Bertha Jane Harrington, and has Mary, Charles, John Lee and 
an infant. The next ciiild, Susan, m. William Harrington, and has a daughter, 
Cora May. The next children, Everett Earl and Erving Dell, are twins, born in 
18S1. 

Mary Jane Matteson-Capwell, b. 1S55 : m. Edwin C. Capwell. They have 
Frank Herbert, who m. Ella Capwei!, and had i child, Merte Belle ; — and Luther Lee. 

Eunice M. Matteson-Andrews, b. 185S ; m. Geo. Warren Andrews. They have 
Lula Belle, Gertrude M., Eva L., George Lester and Grace M. 

John Titus ^L-ltteson, b. i860 ; m. Amanda Alelvina Greene of Wm. and Sarah. 
Their oldest daughter, Nettie E., is wife of Walter Andrews. The other children 
are Arthur C, Charles James, Frances W., Henry and Willard. 

Cynthia Lily Matteson-Briggs, b. 1867 ; m. Wm. Briggs. She d. Sept, i, 1S95, 
leaving a son, Frederick D. 

Clara L. Matteson-Perkins, b. 1S69 ; m. John P. Perkins. She d 1892, leaving 
two sons, Frank and Walter. 

SARAH KING-BRIGGS-SWEETl Born in France. She married 
Burton Briggs, Sept. 26, 1754. He was the youngest son of Robert and 
Renewed Briggs, and grandson or great-grandson of •'Job Briggs, an early 
pioneer, one of the purchasers, with John Greene of Ouidnessett, of the 
Fones Purchase, in 1672. Burton and Sarah had two children. He died, 
and his widow married. May 3, 1761, William Sweet. He was descended 
from John Sweet, who followed Roger Williams to R. I., in June, 1636, and 
died the same year. [John\ John^, William^ William Sweet^-] He was 
called by the nickname of William Wickeboxet, to distinguish him from 
other William Sweets. The)^ had two children. 



156 Zhc (3rceue fainili? 

John Briggs*, b. March 28, 1755. He m. Eunice Stone- He was called Handker- 
chief John, from always wearing a handkerchief about his head. 

Sarah Briggs— Briggs^, m. her second cousin John Briggs, Jr., and had Nathan, 
Hannah, Tanner, Deborah, John Stone, Maglin King, (intended for Magdalen,) 
and Sarah. 

Burton Briggs^, m. Waity Arnold, 1812. 
Renewed BRIGGS--K1TTELLE*, b. Dec. 26, 1756. She was always known as Newie. She 
m. Ephraini Kittelle, and her line is given with his in Chapter XX. 

Burton Sweet*, oldest child of second marriage. He m. Rachel Matteson. They had 9 
children, and their children's children have increased until it is utterly impossible to at- 
tempt to list them in this chapter. The whole line has married and intermarried with the 
Andrews line. I give but the heads of Burton and Rachel's descendants, and refer those 
interested to Miss James' "Andreivs Genealogy." Caleb, William and Roby Sweet married 
three Andrews, Sally, Bethana, and Jonathan, their brother. 

William Sweet^, m. (i) Elcy Weaver. Had by her Antha and Abel. Antha m. 
John Andrews, and became the fore-mother of a particularly great tribe. William 
Sweet m. (2) Sallie Andrews and had Francis, Enos. Stukeley, William Rhodes, Amos 
(called California Amos ), Caleb, Charles, Amy and Alice. 

Caleb Sweet^, m. Bethana Andrews. Had Phebe, Burton, Amos. 
Francis Sweet", m. Betsey Tarbo.x. 

Sally Sweet-Matteson^, m. Philip, son of John and Elizabeth King— Matteson. 
See elsewhere in this Chapter. 

Mollie Sweet- Vaughan^, m. James Vaughan, who was descended from John 
Vaughan born before 1630. They had John, Clark and George. 
Mercy Sweet-Greene^, Had a son Ray Greene. 
Thankful Sweet". Had son David. 

Roby Sweet-Andrews*, m. Jonathan Andrews. They went to Tenn., and had a 
large family. See Miss James' work. 
Thankful SwEET-M.\TTESON*, (of Sarah King-Sweet), m. Thos. Matteson, and went 
to Vermont. 

MARY KING^. Born in France. Married, but name not known. 

NANCY (ANNA) KING-GREENEl Born in R. L, 1742. She was 
the first of her family to be born in America. M. in 1764 to Abel Greene, 
son of James, and grandson of John Greene of Bristol. See Chapter XX. 
Her brother Samuel married Abel's sister Deborah. The families w^ere al- 
ways intimate with each other. Abel was a Revolutionary soldier, and de- 
lighted in story telling and reminiscences. He died in 1829. -^^ ^'^^ ^ saw- 
mill and gristinill for many years. They had a large family, some of whom 
moved to Pa. For list of Nancy and Abel's children, see Chapter XX. 

SAMUEE KING^ b. in Feb., 1745. Died in 1829. He was married 
April 15, 1766, to Deborah Greene, his sister Nancy's sister-in-law. Debo- 
rah's lineage is fully given in Chapter XX. She was great-great-grand-daugh- 
ter of John Greene of Quidnessett. She was her husband's senior by five 
months, having been born Sept. 23, 1744. She died in 1812. Deborah 
King was one of the "good-natured Greenes," as that placid, never-get- 
angry type used to be called by the family. She was a woman of fine men- 
tal powers. Samuel brought her as a bride to the old home, and it is said 
that the affection between Marie La Valley and Deborah was like that be- 



Zbc (Bvccnc family 157 

tween Naomi and Ruth in Bible days. A large family were born to Samuel 
and Deborah. They were Nancy, Sarah, Mary, Elizabeth, George, Hannah, 
Dinah, David, Paul, Joel and Stej^hen. Paul died a bachelor. All the 
others are traced in separate chapters. 

Samuel King was an expert mill-wright. He built mills all over R. I., 
cider mills, woolen mills, cloth mills, fulling mills, saw mills and grist mills. 
He was a man who thoroughly understood the business and put up good, 
honest constructions. Three great-grandsons, S. K. IMatteson, Riley Barnes 
and George Nichols, were all noted mill-wrights, and all inherited this special 
aptitude from Samuel King. 

He ser\'ed in the R. I. IMilitia during the Revolutionary War. Several 
have asked for a record of this fact. Rhode Island's Revolutionary records 
are not complete. Only a fragment of a payroll, made at the close of a little 
" brush" with the enemy, contains his name. It proves his regular connec- 
tion with the IMilitia, however, and entitles his descendants to join the Sons 
or Daughters of the Revolution. The following explains itself : 

"Record &. Pension Office, Washington, D. C. 

"July I, 1 90 1. 

" Record No. 658329. 

"It is shown by the records that Samuel King rank not stated, served in Capt. 

Samuel Wilber's Company of Rhode Island Militia, Revolutionary War. His name 

appears on a pay abstract of that organization, dated April 6, 1777. with remarks. — 

"'Marched Mch. 13-1777. Discharged 

Mch. 30th. Davs in service, 17. No further information relative to his service has 

been found on record. 

" By authority of Secretary of War." 

MARGARET KING-ED WARDS^ baptized Oct. 16, 1748. She was 
married Aug. 15, 1770, to Peleg Edwards, son of Christopher. She was his 
second wife. They had Christopher, b. 1771 ; Jacob, b. 1774; Perry, b. 
1776; Sarah, b. 1778; and Mercy, who married Chas. Andrews in 1816. 

There is a large line of Edwardses in R. I. who have more or less con- 
sidered themselves as descended from IMargaret. Possibly they are from a 
son of Peleg Edwards by his first wife, but they are not Margaret's line. 
These Edwardses trace back to Richard Edwards who married Mary How- 
ard, (sister of Capt. Howard who married Hannah King, IMargaret's niece). 
But Mary Howard was bom in 1770. Margaret's children are accoimted f or 
nearly ten years beyond that date. Mary Howard would not have married 
a man that much her junior. 

PAUL KING^ baptized May 19, 1751. He married Dinah Matteson 
Dec. 22, 1789. See note in list of John King's children. The children 
there credited to his nephew Paul are much more likely to have been his. 



CHAPTER XXIII 



DESCENDANTS OF SARAH KING-HATHAWAY'' 



Family Trees. For the pedigree of the English Greenes, and their 
relationship to the Capet Kings of France, see Chapter XL For the 
Greene descent from John of Quidnessett, together with the allied lines of 
Straight, Holmes, Westcott and Parsons, see Chapter XX. For King and 
La Valley lineage see Chapter XXII. 



Sarah King-Hathaway'' was the second child and daughter of Samuel 
and Deborah Greene-King. She was born about 1769, and married Nathan 
Hathaway, whose first wife was her cousin Alercy Le Valley. To ]\Irs. 
Sara E. Kittelle I am indebted for all the data as to her children. She had 
but three children, all daughters, Nancy, Susan and Betsey. i\ll her de- 
scendants are from Nancy, as the other daughters never married. 

NANCY HATHAWAY-SUNDERLAND", b. May 17, 1807. She be- 
came the wife of John Sunderland, son of George, and grandson of William 
Sunderland. Her family was the reverse of her mother's, all seven being sons. 

Nathan Sunderland*. He m. Adeline Johnson, in 1835. 8 children. Emily, b. 
1836, d. at 35 ; William N., d. at 38 ; Henry at 23, and Adelaide at i. The records o 
the others are as follows : 

Francis Luther Sunderland*. Had t^vo children, Willett and Charles. 
Herbert C. Sunderland^, b. Sept. 15, 1S47 ; m. Harriet Mitchell. They had an 
infant that died, and a son, Fred C, b. Jan. i, 1879. 

Charles E. Sunderland*, b. July, 1849; m. Harriet Brown in i86g. They have 
William, b. in 1S70, and Lily. 
Stephen Sunderland^, b. Nov. 4, 1810, d. 1S53. His wife was Eliza G. Sherman. S 
children, of whom 3 died in infancy. There is only birth date for Amy A. Dorcas died 
at 17, and William at 26, unmarried. This leaves only these: 

Stephen W. Sunderland*, b. March 3, 1847 ; m. Mary Meilhenry in 1875. 
Eliza A. Sunderland-Cook*, b. May 16, 1S52 ; m. George W. Cook of Warwick, 
R. L They had Arthur, -who died at 21, Georgiana M., wife of Fred Place, and 
Howard L. 
John Sunderland*. 

William Sunderland^. He married Anna Kenyon of Coventry, R. I. They had one 
daughter. Bertha, m. to Robert Everett. 

Henry Sunderland*. [Nancy\ Sarah Hathaway^, Deborah Greene-King^, etc.,] b. 

158 



ITlDe ^vccnc Jfatntl^ 159 



March iS, iSi6, d. Feb. ii, 1887 ; m. in 1S42 to Marcelia, dau. of Rufus King. She was 
of the Coventry Kings, not of the Huguenot Kings, from which her husband came. 6 
children. 

Ann Maria Sunderland- FieW, b. Jan. 18, 1S44. Wife of Harrison Field. They 
have Leonard, b. 1S71 ; Maud, 1S73 ; .Mabel, 1876 ; and Lyman, 1SS2. 
John H. Sunderland''. D. in 1875, aged 29. 

Nancy Emma Sunderland-Le Valley^, b. Aug. 26, 1S50, d. March 14, 1890 ; m. 
Wm. F. Le Valley, son of Robert, in 1873. He wasof the same La Valley stock as 
herself, through one of the sons of Peter La Valley who died in 1756. 

Mary E. Le Valley-Northup^", wife of Alonzo Northup. They have Gladys 
I and Harriet F. 

William F. Le Valleyi«. b. May 24, 1881. 
George Sunderland^, b. Dec. i, 1852 ; m. Mary Hopkins in 1883. They have 
Lena, b. 1884; Wallace, iSSS ; and George, b. 1S91. 

Augustus H. Sunderland^, b. May 11, 1856 ; m. Carrie B. Johnson in 1S81. 
They have Alice, b. 18S3 ; Ethel, 1884 ; Herbert, (dead); Norma, b. 1890 ; and 
Maud, b. 1S93. 

Idella F. Sunderland-Burnham^, twin to Augustus H. M. in 1874 to Alfred D. 
Burnham. They had Edith, who died at 10, and Alfred T. b. 1888. 
Alfred Sunderl.and'^, (of Nancy^, of Sarah H.^, etc.) 

Thom.a.3 Sunderland*, [Nancy', Sarah Hathaway®, Deborah Greene-King^, etc.] He 
m. Betsey Spencer about 1S42. They had William, Lucretia and George, all o'f whom died 
without issue. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE PIERCE FAMILY 
LINE OF SANFORD AND MARY KING-PIERCE 

Mary, the third daughter of Samuel and Deborah Greene-King, [INIary , 
Deborah'^, James^, John"^, James-, John\] married Sanford Pierce'', the son 
of Olive Greene-Pierce'^, [Samuel", Olive^, Ebenezer^ Ebenezer*, John'-,John\] 
The Greene descent of both has been traced, and also the La Valley- 
King descent of ]\Iary. The Pierce family also has its history, inter- 
woven in part with others, and will be given here, before the personal story 
of IMary and Sanford is begun. I have confidence in the pedigree as here 
given. It is the result of close comparison and study of very old records, 
which are, however, as I am free to admit, brief and sometimes confused. 

The name was originally Norman French, and was then St. Pierre — 
(Saint Peter.) The first name-bearer was a devotee of Saint Peter, who had 
taken, it is supposed, some special vow or obligation before the shrine of 
the saint. The family were of noble blood. Their coat-of-arms showed two 
bend sable. It is an old escutcheon, showing some variation in different 
lines. They came to England at the Conquest, or soon after, and there the 
name quickly corrupted itself into Pierce or Pirce, written at first Piers or 
Perres. The descendants of the younger sons of the family became reduced 
to the common rank. It is perhaps but a coincidence, yet it is worth noting, 
that William Langland who wrote the famous poem of " Piers the Plow- 
man," about 1362, locates his Piers of the remarkable visions in the Malvern 
Hills, on the Welsh border. The first glimpse we get of the line of Pierces 
we are trying to trace, is in North Wales, about one hundred years after the 
date of the poem.* 

* There is a tradition, as Mrs. Belle Pieree-Estabrook tell^ u~, that this family have royal Stnart 
blood. If so, it was in the same way and in the .'^ame sense in which Cromwell had royal Stuart blood : 
1. e., there is a strain in the blood of descent from the Norman Bai-on Alan, whose son was made Lord 
Steward to the Scotch King David. From the Lord Steward's family the royal Stuarts sprang in meteoric 
career, only to sink into ruin so pathetic that it has made their memory immortal. Many old Welsh 
families had a cross of this Baron Alan blood. 

It is only justice to Mrs. Estabrook to state she does not accept the old records that I quote- She 
believes that the Pierces "are of Royal Stuart blood, and went to France after the overthrow of the 
royal house, taking the name meaning a stone or rock." 

160 



XTbe (Brecne Jfamtlp i6i 

In the Appendix it is told that a young woman of this Welsh Pierce 
family, prior to 1500, married an Ithell. Their son, Pierce Ithell, had a 
daug-hter Mary who married an Englishman, Richard Wardwell. One of 
the Wardwells' sons married a Huguenot refugee's daughter, Meribe 
Lascelle. 

The heads of this Huguenot family, Gershom and Meribe Lascelle, had 
another daughter whose name, as near as we can get at the original form, 
was Anteres, which would be pronounced An-te-rees, or An-te-race, with the 
accent on the last syllable. The name was handed down in the Pierce fam- 
ily for several generations, under the forms of Antrace, Antires, Anterace, 
or Ansutrass, and particularly as Antress and Anstress. This daughter with 
the odd name married a Pierce, whose baptismal name is unknown to us. 
We do know that he belonged to the same branch whose blood was in the 
Wardwell line into which Meribe (Maribah,) the sister of Anteres, married. 

The French blood thus brought into the Pierce family has markedly 
shown itself. The romantic and spectacular side of the Gallic character has 
tinged the whole blood of this line. An instance is the act of old Robert 
the Emigrant, who brought bread with him from England, bread that is yet 
preserved in his family, a memento as sacred as the Jewish shew bread of 
the altar itself. The Pierce of to-day has a Frenchy, imaginative, sentimen- 
tal and reminiscent side to his character, however practical he may be in 
other ways. Every pathetic or romantic episode in their history has been 
preserved, until their chronicler suffers from embarrassment of riches, so 
many and so varied are these anecdotes. The Lascelles, like so many 
French families, delighted in mellifluous and high-sounding names. More 
than any other branch of the family, the Pierces have preserved this pecu- 
liarity. In studying 200 years of early New England records, the Pierces 
led any other family whatever in original, peculiar and poetical names. 
Pardon, Preserved, Myell, Suthcote, Val, Backus and Clothier, Bashabee, 
Barsha, Squier, and Lewis-Desabaye-Besayade are a few of these names that 
now occur to me. To this day the Pierces largely choose sentimental names 
for their offspring. 

Anteres Pierce had quite a family. Almost certainly she had an Eb- 
enezer, Thomas, Michael and Azrikam, and probably an Edward and a 

Stephen. One of her younger children was a daughter who married 

King. This daughter's descendants continued the names of Thomas, Mich- 
ael, Ebenezer and Edward for several generations. Her sons Thomas, Wil" 
liam, John and Michael King came to iVmerica in 1635, and a great-grand- 
son, John King the Buccaneer, came to R. I. in 1665, a child of 11 years. 
Buccaneer John was the great-grandfather of Mary King-Pierce herself. So 
that by her and Sanford Pierce's marriage were united her remote Pierce- 

12 



i62 Zhc 6reene jfamtl^ 

Ithell and Lascelle-Wardwell blood, and his Pierce and equally remote in- 
fusion of Lascelle blood. Each was of course of Greene blood also. So 
these several small trickles from the parent streams, re-united, became 
something of a current itself. 

In the next generation a large number of allied families, Waites, Hills, 
Wardwells, Lazells (Lascelles), Slocums, Brownells, Kings and Pierces came 
to the Colonies, seeking religious freedom. From the early records, General 
Ebenezer Pierce's careful Pierce genealogy, and from the New England 
Historical and Genealogical Register, it aj)pears that the Pierces among 
these may be subdivided into several groups of presumable brothers, the 
first descendants in each group cousins to those of the others, and all of 
course grandchildren to Anteres Pierce and her husband. Only one group 
concerns this history, save that Thomas Pierce of Woburn deserv^es mention 
as being the ancestor of President Pierce. 

The group in which we are interested consists of four brothers — so 
the best authorities consider them — John the Patentee, Robert, Capt. Wil- 
liam and Capt. Michael. Three of these were men of distinction in their 
day. They were grandsons of Anteres Pierce, and sons of Azrikam Pierce 
and his wife Martha.* Besides these are three, evidently closely related to 
them, and believed to be a brother's children. These are John the Emi- 
grant, of Watertown, Daniel of Watertown and Newbury, and Richard of 
Rhode Island. It is thought these three were the sons of a Jeremiah, but 
of his name there is no absolute certainty. 

Before passing on to Richard of Rhode Island's line, let us glance at 
the history of his three then-famous uncles. John the Patentee, (who may 
have been an uncle instead of a brother to the others,) was a merchant of 
London. He was the owner of the historic Mayflower. An association of 
merchants, with John Pierce at their head, secured a patent in 1620 from 
the Virginia Company for the use of the Mayflower colonists, who then ex- 
pected to settle in Virginia. When the Mayflower returned in the spring of 
1 62 1, with the news of the change of base, John Pierce obtained a new 
grant or patent to Plymouth Colony, dated June i, 1621. He himself start- 
ed for the new world in the ship Paragon, but it proved unseaworthy and 
put back. He then sent the patent on in the ship Good Fortune, which 
reached Plymouth Nov. 11, 162 1. He remained in Eondon,t but used his 
means and ships in building up the colony. 



* Those two names, Azrikam, (frequently Ezrikam, Eliakim, Azrakin and Azra in the records,) and 
Martha, are repeated over and over in their descendants names, as only an ancestor's name would be. 
Azrikam is never met with outside of this branch. 

t So say all authorities bat one. I find no trace of him in America. 



^be (Breene jfamili? 163 

He put his brother — so Gen. Ebenezer Pierce styles him — Captain Wil- 
liam Pierce as master of first one and another of his ships. A year from the 
time he first visited Plymouth Colony, Captain William owned 13 slaves. 
Doubtless he owned many more as his fortunes increased. In a letter of 
1638, which has been preserved, is this language: "The ship Desire, Capt. 
William Pierce, returned from the West Indies after a 7-month's voyage. 
He brought cotton, tobacco and negroes from Providence, [one of the West 
Indies' islands,] and salt from Tortugas." x'\nd yet a historian of those days 
speaks of him as "A godly man, and a most expert mariner ! " Doubt- 
less he was a good man, for these things did not trouble men's consciences 
then. 

Pope in his history says that up to 1640 Capt. William crossed the ocean 
oftener than any other man then living. He made many voyages between 
England and Virginia or to the West Indies. Twice he essayed to go to 
Plymouth, but each time had to put back because of a leaky vessel. This 
was in 1621 and 1622. In 1623 ^^^ came in the Ann, in the Charity in 1624, 
in an unregistered ship in 1625, i^ ^^^^ Mayflower in 1629, ^^^^ i^ ^^^ Lyon 
or Lyon's Whelp in 1630, 1631 and 1632, making seven voyages to Ply- 
mouth within ten years. He brought a great many of his kindred over in 
his ships, also Rev. Cotton, Roger Williams and other eminent men. 

At first he lived in Virginia, where he had a plantation of 200 acres at 
James City. Here his first wife, Mrs. Jone (Jane) Pierce, died. She left a 
daughter Jane, who married John Rolfe, the widower of Pocahontas, the 
Indian princess who saved Capt. John Smith's life. In 1632 he removed to 
Boston. Here he was of great influence, and made for them their first 
Almanac in 1639. In 1641 he attempted to land a ship-load of colonists on 
the Island of Providence, one of the Bahamas. The inhabitants resisted the 
intrusion, and in the battle that followed he was shot, the i3tli of May, 
1641. 

Captain Michael Pierce, the third prominent one of the brothers, was an 
Ensign under Captain Miles Standish. In 1669 he was made Captain. He 
was easily the greatest Indian fighter of the King Philip War. But close to 
Rehoboth, Mass., near the Pawtucket River, he was hemmed in by a host of 
red men, on March 26, 1676. He had only 52 white men with him and 11 
friendly Indians. In the fearful massacre that followed only three of the 
sixty-three escaped. Thus dearly he sold his life on that Sabbath day's 
fight, so long ago. The family of Richard (his nephew) have this battle 
handed down in their memories, and tradition could be no more positive 
than theirs that they are nearly related to him. Richard Pierce's line was 
exceedingly proud of their near relationship to Captain Michael, and named 
after him for five generations. 



i64 ^be Greene ffamil^ 

Richard^ the Emigrant*, [Jeremiah^, x\zrikam', Anteres Lascelle-Pierce^, 
Gershom Lascelle\] came to Massachusetts, probably about 1635. His wife 
was Elizabeth . Richard was one of those who thought the Mass- 
achusetts authorities exercised tyranny in religious matters. He according- 
ly went to Portsmouth, R. I., and became a Friend or Quaker. His descend- 
ants of the particular line we are tracing, went to Prudence Island, or Chip- 
pacursett, as the Indians called it. Together with the Hills, who were 
relatives, the Aliens and Sanfords, they were the leading families of that 
island, until the Revolutionary' War. The British in vain tried to buy hay 
or provision from the Prudence Island farmers. They were so stanch a band 
of patriots that not one would part with provender for the British army, 
even at double price. 

An English officer attempted to overcome the scruples of Hon. John 
Allen, of this island. The Hon. John, who was hot-headed, exploded with 
wrath, and refused in a taunting way to have anything to do with the red- 
coats. Wallace, the British officer in com^mand, in reprisal for the insult, 
sent troops with orders to burn every house, barn and haystack on the island, 
from end to end. The order was carried out to the letter. Allen's family 
were thrust out in their night clothes, and of their household possessions saved 
only some silver teaspoons that i\Irs. Allen snatched up as the soldiers drove 
her out. and thrust into her bosom. Samuel Pierce, Senior, great-grandson of 
Richard the Emigrant, and grandfather of the Sanford we are tracing, was 
turned out of doors also, his house, barn and hay burned, and his cattle 
taken. He left the island at once, and none of the family ever returned. He 
saved a few small articles in his ffight, and they are yet kept as heirlooms, 
including some of the garments, and a teapot with the date of its making, 
1746, stamped upon it. 

Richard the Emigrant's line were mostly seamen. In a hundred years' 
time no less than six were sea captains, and as man}' were drowned at sea. 
They were all slave-holders. The records would indicate that, next to the 
Tripps, they were collectively the largest slave-holders in the colony. One 
reason was that many sailors habitually made trips to Africa, trading New 
England products for slaves and gold dust. These slaves cost them but a 
trifle, and they could afford to own plenty of them. Some of the family 
died on the African coast, on slaving expeditions. The brother of Captain 
Daniel in our tracing line being one of them. 

The close of the seventeenth century- were the palmy days of the Buc- 



*Some of the family hold that this Richard was Capt. William's son, H'^ indeed had a son Eichard 
by Bridget, his second wife. The Milton, Mass., church records show that Riohard of Cap?. William was 
baptized Jan. 23. 1636, then a small child. Richard of Portsmouth had children born before 1630, so 
could not hare been the same. 



^be (Breene Family 165 

« -- ^'- ■ ' — ..■ — l . '-. - ll !■ I I ■■ -■■ I -II III- .1 ■! ■ .1, ^_» 

caneers, those sea rovers who made it a matter of conscience to despoil 
Spanish possessions, and take the booty captured for their own. Spain was 
a hated nation. So far from considering themselves pirates, those free-boot- 
ing ancestors thought it a feather in their cap to board Spanish vessels, and 
to take Spanish towns in the West Indies. The Prudence Island Pierces 
had their full share in all this. 

The family soon lost their Quakerism. During the Revolutionary War 
48 Pierces of R. I., nearly all lineal descendants of Richard, Senior, enlisted 
in the army. Not a few of them were officers. 

Richard's son, Richard Jr.", had by his first wife, Joyce, a son DanieP.* 
This Daniel was married in 1708 to Patience (Patty) Hill, a distant cousin. 
Patience was the daughter of Jonathan Hill, the uncle of Ann and Susanna 
Hill who married *' Wealthy " John Greene and Usal Greene. One of the 
oldest sons of Daniel and Patience Pierce was Samuel, Senior, whose house 
was burned by the British. In 1744 this Samuel married Hester or Esther 
Wiley. (The name is written both ways.) Their third son, Samuel, Jr., 
was born April 13, 1752. He married Olive Greene-, [Ebenezer*, Ebenezer^, 
John", John\] As her grandmother was probably a Pierce, she was a cousin 
on the Pierce side, and a very distant one on the Eascelle-Wardwell side. 

Samuel and Olive lived mostly at Bristol, R. I. Here she died, July 
14, 1786, in child-bed, at 35 years of age. The solid silver " name " spoon, 
an heirloom in the family, was doubtless presented to an Ebenezer Caleb of 
this family, who died young. It was presented by Ebenezer Greene and 
Caleb Hill, the one the brother of Olive, the other Samuel's great-uncle. It 
must always descend to an E. C. Pierce. The only sons that survived were 
Daniel, Caleb and Sanford. The last was evidently named for their fast 
friends, the Sanfords of Prudence Island. Sanford married his distant 
cousin, Molly King''. [Deborah Greene-King'', James Greene*, John^, James^, 
John\] 

Sanford*' was the oldest child of Samuel Jr. and Olive Pierce. He was 
born May 10, 1773. His wife, Molly King-Pierce, was two years his senior, 
having been born June 29, 1771. They were married in West Greenwich, 
R. I., which was her home, probably about 1797= What was known as the 
Military Tracts of Northern New York had been thrown open to settlement 
on advantageous terms. After living in IVIass. for about a year the}' went to 
this region and settled in Onondaga County, in that part of Pompey after- 
wards called Fabius. It had only been surveyed in 1794, and bears, panthers 



'" In some Indian uprising Daniel did service. He held the rank of Captain, and was noted for his 
valor and successful stratagems against his wily foe. He was usually called Captain Daniel or Fighting 
Captain Daniel. It is known that he followed the sea a part of his life, and the sobriquet of " Bo'sen 
Dan'el" (Boatswain Daniel) was also much used of him. 



3 66 tTbe (Breene family 

and wolves abounded. Deer were so plentiful that the settlers had venison 
as commonly as we now have beef. Here they remained for 24 years, then 
removed to a new settlement just being made at Palermo, in Otsego County. 
Ebenezer, their " home son," having moved to Northern Indiana in 1837, 
Sanford and his wife went to him, and died at his home, — Mary (Molly) 
Sept. 9, 1838, and Sanford June 29, 1849. 

Mary, the wife, was a slender, petite woman, with a fair, expressive face 
and beautiful eyes. She had the quick wit and bright way of her French 
grandmother, Marie La Valley-King. She had her supersensitive, nervous 
organization as well. A shock left a mental cloud for some years upon her 
in the latter part of her life. 

Sanford and Mary had five children, all of whom lived to marry. Cath- 
erine remained in N. Y. The others all moved to La Grange Co., Indiana, 
and died there. 

MARGARET PIERCE-MUNGER'. She was born in 1798, and mar- 
ried when but 16. Her husband was hunting, and while chasing a deer 
over Oneida Lake broke through the ice and was drowned, leaving Margaret 
a widow at 17. She was later married to Allen Munger. She died at Wol- 
cottville, Indiana, in the " sickly year," Oct. 4, 1838, aged 40 years. Beside 
her own children she brought up Nancy Matteson, who married Ira Nichols.^ 

Betsey Hunger*, m. Hiram Roberts. 

Melissa Roberts— Smith®, wife of John Smith. One daughter. 
Alfred Munger*. 
Catherine Munger*, m. Sanderson Eastlake. 

SAMUEL PIERCE". There is not a sadder page in this book, than of 
this man's history. He was a young man of promise, good-looking, upright, and 
exceedingly ambitious and proud. He married a young and pretty girl, Mary 
Andrews. Before her oldest son was born, she sank into a mental im- 
becility that lasted her life. People did not understand the laws of heredity 
in those days, or realize the curse in her blood to the offspring of an unfit 
mother. The children kept coming until there were six, every one of whom 
was a degenerate. Samuel Pierce never held up his head again. He lost 
all ambition or care to live. He died in 1857, aged 57. 

EBENEZER PIERCE'. He was born Oct 19, 1801, He taught school 
at Pompey Hill, the winter he was 19. The next spring the family moved 
to what is now Palermo, then an unbroken forest.* Dec, 29, 1821, he was 
one of the principals to a double wedding, when Rachel McQueen became 
his wife, and his sister Catherine became the wife of Ephraim McQueen. Four 
children were born to them in their little cabin in the clearing, Polly (Mary), 

* His mother, Mrs, Pierce, rode on horseback, with a feather bed tied on behind her and carrying a 
baby in her arms. It was hardly as stylish a mode of traveling as a modern automobile jaunt, but it 
answered all purposes then. 



Zbe (Breene family 167 

Seymour, Atelia and Clark. Mrs, Rachel Pierce died Sept. 15, 1832, in her 
31st year. 

His second wife was Julia Arabella Collins, who was born May 26, 1816, 
in Windham Co., Vermont. She outlived her husband nearly thirty-eight 
years, dying in Saratoga Springs, N. Y., Oct. 26, 1902, in her 87th year. 
She was more than an ordinarily capable woman, level-headed and energetic 
always. She was a capital hand at rehearsing stories of pioneer life. It was 
as good as a novel to hear her relate, when the western fever attacked her 
husband, how in 1837 they made the overland trip from N. Y. to Northern 
Indiana, with some other families. They were seven weeks on the road. 
There were twenty-six in the company, three of them babes under three 
months old. On the way, sixteen of the twenty-six came down with the 
measles, to say nothing of a score of other haps and ills. 

A log house was hastily built in the deep woods. Here this girlish 
wife watched over the brood of six little ones, and quaked in her shoes each 
time an Indian showed his dusky face. One time Schomack, the old Potto- 
watamie Chief, grunted and patted Mrs. Julia on the shoulder, patronizingly 
complimenting her to her husband by repeating, " Nice squaw ! nice squaw ! " 

Once when Eben — the name her husband usually was called — was away 
from home, six Indians stalked into the house. They helped themselves to 
the bread in the bake-oven, and as they were not given anything else one 
of them shook his fist in the young wife's face. She expected to be killed, 
but he made signs they would leave if she would give them what they took 
to be a piece of dried venison. She gave it to them. The first to taste it 
made a horrible face, while the others burst forth into derisive hoots. The 
supposed venison was dried beef's gall, about the bitterest thing on the face 
of the earth. 

Eben Pierce was a man of sound judgment and irreproachable life. He 
died of small-pox Jan. 20, 1865, at his home near Wolcottville, Indiana. 
His descendants by his first wife are these : 

Polly Pierce-Jennings*. Born Feb. 16, 1824, in N. Y. Died in Indiana, March 4, 
1853. She was married to Orville Jennings, Oct. 8, 1848. 
H. Seymour Jennings®. 

H. Seymour Pierce*. Born Sept. 19, 1828, and died Aug. 15, 1838. 

Atelia Pierce-Watson*. Born July 26, 1830 ; m. March, 1852, to Anthony Watson. 
She died in Indiana, Dec. 17, 1854, aged 24. 

Ebenezer Clark Pierce* He is always called Clark. No one stands higher in the com- 
munity than he. Like all of his family, he is a Baptist. He is a successful man, has been 
a farmer, but now lives in Wolcottville, Indiana. He was born Nov. 15, 1831, at Palermo, 
N. Y. He was married March 2, 1856, to Christine Raber, who was born in Summit Co.„ 
Ohio. By her he had five children. She died May 13, 1870. His second wife was Mrs. Mar- 
garet Lukins, who lived but a few months after their marriage. Aug. 4, 1874, he married 
Sarah Jane Snyder, who was born in Wayne Co., Ohio, in 1845. They have had seven 
children : 



i68 Zbc (Breene Jamili? 



Frank H. Pierce®, b. Dec. 22, 1856 ; m. in 1886 to Florence Selby. They live in 
N. D. and have one daughter, Arabeile. 

Ida O. Pierce^, b. July 3i, 1859 ; d. Feb. 17, 1864. 

Atelia M. Pierce-Diggins^ (called Tillie), b. Feb. 10, 1862 : m. to William Dig- 
gins, Oct., 1886. 

Frank Diggins^*'. 
Harold Diggins'". 
Owen E. C. Pierce^, b. June 15, 1865 ; m. Maria Weatherwax, Dec, 1887. 

Claud Piercei". 
Elsie A. Pierce®, b. July 20, 1867 ; d. Sept. ig, 1870. 
By his last wife Clark has these chi dren : 

Merritt Pierce®, b. May 21, 1875. He ni. his third cousin, Emma E, Nichols 
July 29, 1896. He is a teacher, as was also his wife. 

Marjorie Elide Pierce^", b. ■ 1897. 

Jay Pierce®, b. Jan. 3, 1877 ; m. Ella Lamp, Nov., 1900. 
Harold Pierce^". 
Winnafred Pierce^". 
Flora Belle Pierce-Diggins®, b. March 9, 1879 ; m. to Geo. F. Diggins, Dec. 18, 
190 1. 
Lora Dell Pierce®, twin of Flora. M. to Chas. Myers, March 18, 1903. 
Charles Pierce®, b. Feb. 24, 1881 ; d. March 23, 1883. 
Frederick Pierce®, b. March 17, 1885 ; d. Sept., 1887. 
Pansy Pierce®, b. April 6, 1887. 

By his second wife, Julia A. Collins, Eben Pierce had these children : 

Joseph Ansel Pierce*, usually called by his second name, was born Nov. 24, 1833. He 
was married (i) in 1856 to Eliza J. Hoard, who died in 1870. M. (2) to Lucy Shafner, in 
1878, and (3) to Lucinda Stockwell, in 1S93. He is now living at Fowler, III. 
Emily L. Pierce®, b. Nov. 25, 1857. D. at 7. 

Charlotte E. Pierce-Dossa®, b. Nov. 23, 1859. Married Frank O. Dossa in Dec. 
1875. They have Florence, Lafayette, Ansel and Dota. 

William Wallace Pierce®, b. June 5, 1862. Married Rose Ette Fleharty, May 12, 
1883. He is in the real estate and insurance business at Wetumka, Ind. Territory. 
Myrtle Belle Pierce^*', b. Oct. 13, 1884 ; d. at 5 years. 
Flossie Dell Pierce^", b. Aug. 26, 1886 ; d. in her fourth year. 
Bertha Floyce Pierce'*^, b. Aug. 30, 1895. 
Wallace Ross Pierce^®, b. Aug. 10, 1900. 
George L. Pierce®, b. Aug. 9, 1865. Married April, 1887, to Belle Squires. Their 
son, Vernon L., was born in Jan. 1889, George L., the father, d. Nov. 30, 1900, 
and his wife died the next month. 

Belle M. Pierce-Aron®, b. Oct. 1867; m. to Chas. Aron, July, 1888. They have 
4 children. 

Florence O. Pierce-- Morrell®, b. Oct., 1869. She m. Frank Morrell in Sept., 
1901. She died in April, 1903. No children. 
By the second wife were these children : 

Oliver W. Pierce®, b. Feb. 24, 1879. 

Loretta U. Pierce-Harger®, b. March i, 1882, and m. in Feb., 1901, to Howard 
Harger. She has 2 daughters. 

Daisy O. Pierce-Sawyer®, b. Aug. II, 1883, and m. to Noah Sawyer in June, 
1900. She has 2 sons. 

By the third wife there was another son Loron L. Pierce®, born Aug. 30, 1895, 
The wife died 5 months after, Jan. 17, 1896. 
Rev. Francis Edwin Pierce^ He was born March 3, 1837, in N. Y. He was mar- 
ried to Eliza Maria Nash, Jan. 5, i860, at Kendallville, Ind. Miss Nash was the daughter 



^be (Brecne family 169 



of Col. John and Catherine Wolcott--Nash, and was born in Middleburg, Ohio, Aug, 5, 
1840. She was lineally descended from the two famous Connecticut governors, Roger and 
Oliver Wolcott, and from Oliver Wolcott, Senior, a Signer of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. To Frank and Eliza were born eight children. Mrs. Eliza Pierce died in Benton 
County, Indiana, Nov. 3, 1S84. 

Rev. Frank Pierce was married secondly to Eliza Lardner, daughter of John and Eliza 
Raiph-Lardner. She was born in London, England, Feb. 16, 1849, and came with her 
parents to the United States in 1850. 

Rev. Frank was ordained a Baptist minister in 1869, and preached for some years in 
Indiana and Vermont. Is not now in charge of any work, although he occasionally 
preaches. His home is at Ellendale, North Dakota. None of his children live there. " It 
almost takes a state for a child," as their father says, as they are scattered in Indiana, Ohio, 
Iowa, Minn., and S. Dakota. His children are . 

Infant son^, b. Nov. 22, i860, and died Dec. 11, i860. 

Lida Adell Pierce-Rank*, b. Sept. 22, 1864. She was married to H. C. Rank, 
Aug. 27, 1885. He is the County Auditor of Benton Co., Indiana. 
Edith Lucile Rank^^, b. June 24, 1889 , d. 1894 
Helen Mignon Rank^**, b. June 24, 1894. 
Harold Leo Rank^", b. Sept. 17, 1898. 
Flora Emma Pierce-Graves^, b. Jan. 22, 1S67 • m. to Rev. James Wesley Graves, 
July 25, 1892. He is the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Waverly, Iowa. 
Ruth Vivian Graves,^", b. Nov. 27, 1893. 
Esther Bernice Graves^", b. Sept. 16, 1896. 
Thelma Blanche Graves'**, b. Sept. 14, 1897. 
Clark Edwin Pierce^, b. June 24, 1869 ; and m. to Etta M. Young, Feb. 19, 1891. 
He is a farmer, and lives near Wentworth, S. Dakota. 
Rexford Vernon Pierce'", b. Oct. 8, 1892. 
Raymond Ralph Pierce'", b. March i, 1896. 
Ethel Muriel Pierce", b. Sept. 2, 1897. 
Melvin Leo Pierce"*, b. April 19, 1899 ; d. April II, 1900. 
Francis Milton Pierce'**, b. Sept. 5, 1901. 
Ruth Mildred Pierce'", b Dec. 17, 1902. 
Fannie Ina Pierce-Hard", b. May 24, 1871 : m. to A. C. Hard M. D., Feb. 25, 
1893. They reside at Worthington, Minn. 

Walter Hard'", b. Jan.. 1896, d. at two months, 
Arthur Hard'", b. July, 1902. 
Ruth Eveline Pierce-Crigler", b. May 10, 1873 ; m. to Le Roy Crigler. April 27, 
1896. He is an artist and printer at Columbus, O. 

Francis Elbert Pierce", b. Dec. 5, 1877 ; m. Edith May Constable. Nov. 29, l892„ 
He is a graduate pharmacist, located at Goodland, Indiana. 

Bernice Ethel Pierce-Wedgewood", b. April 24, 1881 ; m, to Eugene Howard 
Wedgewood, Feb. 14, 1901. He is a farmer, living near Trent, South Dakota. 
Flora A„ Fideli.\ Pierce-Leonard-Harris*. She was born near Wolcottville, In- 
diana, Sept. 30, 1841, At 20 she was married to David Pitt Leonard. Nov. 9, 1861, and 
immediately went to West Dover, Vermont, where they lived for 24 years. Pitt Leonard was 
the son of Rev. Daniel and Sally Maria Leonard. He was universally well spoken of, and 
was a leader in his community, He died in 1S8-. Two children were born to this union. 
Flora married for her second husband, Elder Clark Harris, an elderly gentleman of the 
highest standing. He had been an acceptable officer of the M. E. Church for over 40 years. 
After this marriage they resided in Saratoga Springs, N. Y., where he had capital in- 
vested in city real estate. He died April 10, 1898, aged 84 years. The widow yet lives in 
Saratoga, a quiet unassuming woman of real worth and kindliness of heart. 

Francis Pierce Leonard", b. Nov. 3, 1862. At 16 he entered the Wilmington (Vt.) 
Savings Bank. He was for three years Manager of the State Life Insurance Co. of 



I/O ^be (Brcene family 



Chicago. He also graduated from the Law School of the State University of Min- 
nesota. With the exception of those years, he has spent all his life in the banking 
business. lie has been for many years the Receiving Teller of the Farmers and 
Mechanics Savings Bank of Minneapolis, Minn., said to have the largest capital of 
any bank west of Rochester, N. Y. He resides at 3300 Tenth Avenue, S. Minne- 
apolis. He married Emogene Perry of West Wardsboro, Vt., Nov. 16, i835. 
F, Perry Leonard'", b. Sept. 18, 1S87. 
Gladys Leonardi**, b. Nov. 15, 1888. 
Faith Leonard'", b. March 11, i8go. 
Harry Wentworth Leonard", b. Aug. 2, 1S67, in West Dover, Vt. March 16, 
1893. he married in Albany, N. Y., Mae Agnez Lantz, the daughter of Levi S. and 
Sarah J. Leinbach-Lantz, who was born in Burlington, Michigan. They live in 
Saratoga Springs, N. Y., but his place of business is in Schenectady, N. Y. He 
is a member of the hrm of Van Voast & Leonard, General Insurance Agents, and is 
a successful business man. 
Fayette Judson Pierce*, B. Dec. 22, 1845, and d. Jan. i. 1846. 
Maria E. Pierce^ Born Feb. 6, 1850 ; d. Aug. 8, 1851. She was accidentally killed 
by being dropped from the arms of a playmate who was visiting the older children. 

Sophia Arabella Pierce-Estabrook*. She is known in the family as Belle. She 
was born Nov. g, 1853, near Wolcottville, Indiana. The Pierce daughters were usually 
belles. None more so than this youngest child of Ebenezer's, vivacious, witty, and gifted 
in music and song. She married Taylor S. Eslabrook, Aug. 22, 1871, at Wilmington, Vt. 
Taylor Snead Estabrook was born May 31, 1847, in West Dover, Vermont. His family 
is an old New England one, and he himself was a lineal descendant from one of the minute 
men killed at Lexington, April 19, 1775. Few nicn made as many friends and as few 
enemies. ."Vll his life he was a man who dared to reach out. At nineteen, he learned the 
baker's trade in Baltimore, Maryland, and in a year's time was conducting for himself the 
largest wholesale bakery in the city. After various experiences in 1S81, he came to Saratoga 
Springs. At tiiis fashionable summer resort he kept a summer Iiotel. During the winter 
season he conducted college halls where hundreds of students were cared for, first at Trinity • 
College, Hartford, Conn., and then at Cornell University, Ithica, N. Y. Mr. Estabrook 
always had crowded houses, although he never sacrificed for one moment his Christian 
principles. He never attended the races, never allowed a bar in one of his houses, and 
never suffered wine or brandy to be used in his kitchens in sauces or other cooking. He 
died Oct. 4, 1903, and is buried in Greenridge Cemetery, Saratoga Springs, N. Y. 

Mrs. Estabrook takes a deep interest in historical and genealogical matters, and helped to 
prepare ihe Estabrook Genealogy. She has supplied much data for this chapter, and 
I legret that her well-written " Sketches of Pioneer Life and Pioneer Experiences," de- 
scribing the early days of the family, could not appear because of lack of room. 

Lula Belle Estabrook,-' b. in Wolcottville Indiana, Aug. 31, 1873= She is an 
artist in oils, pastel and water colors, and also teaches in the city schools. 

Harold Pitt Estabrook", b. in West Dover, Vt., June 29, 1876. He is an electrical 
draughtsman, and also an artist in crayon. Lives with his mother at Saratoga 
Spring, N. Y. 

Leo Taylor Estabrook", b. at Saratoga, N, Y. Jan. 13, 18S4. Is now in the 
Baltimore Medical College, preparing himself for his specialty of surgery. 

CATHERINE PIERCE-McQUEEN^. She was born at Fabiiis, N. 
Y., March 24, 1805. She was married to Ephraim McQueen, Dec. 29, 1821, 
at Palermo, N. Y., at the same time that her brother Eben married Rachel 
McQueen, sister of Ephraim. This was a most happy marriage. Her hus- 
band never tired of telling- of his courtship. Ephraim, son of James Mc- 
Queen, came among the ver^- first to the new lands thrown open to settle- 



^be 6reene jfamil^ 171 

ment. There was clearing and everything to do at once, and no time to 
build even a log cabin. He built a shack of boughs, or a brush wigwam. 
There was no door nor window, and to keep the wolves from coming in at 
the opening a fire of logs was kept burning all night. He was standing at 
the front of this shack, almost unmanned by homesickness, when a part)' of 
movers passed by. There was a trim-built, comely girl among them, this 
very Catherine, so petite that she weighed but 90 pounds. As she passed 
the forlorn figure by the shack she gave him an arch smile, and he fell in 
love with her on the spot. No more homesickness then. The Pierces lo- 
cated two miles away, and he made his way often through the gloomy woods 
to her father's door. One night he was followed by a wild beast, a bear or 
panther, nearly the whole distance. 

Eight children were born to this pioneer couple. The household in- 
creased, in fact, faster than their table lengthened, and there came a time 
when they all had to stand up to their meals to get around the table, and 
their elbows touched. The farm, opened up under such difficulties, became 
a good possession eventually. Catherine was all energy. She was an ex- 
pert weaver, and sold much cloth, sometimes 200 yards at a time of her own 
weaving. She delighted in old keepsakes, and to her was given the china 
of her grandmother, Olive Pierce, and the teapot that was purchased for her 
great-grandmother, Hester Pierce, in 1746. Doubtless Hester was proud of 
it. When the British burned their homes over their heads she saved this 
teapot. The dress and bonnet she wore were also preserved, and fell to 
Catherine's share of keepsakes. They are treasured highly by her descend- 
ants. Catherine died April 30, 1870. Her husband held the rank of Cap- 
tain in the State militia. He died Aug. 22, 1883. 

Stephen Pierce McQueen^. Born April 2g. 1825 ; d. Jan. 8. 1826 
Margarei' McQueen^ Born August 5, 1827; d. Sept, 11, 1829. 

Sanford McQueen^. Born Oct. 5, 1830. The lotli of May, 1863, he married Mrs. 
Lucy Jennings. His wife died July 7, 1873. Sanford is a farmer, and lives on the old home- 
stead. 

Emery Wilson McQueen^. Born Aug, 16, 1833. He married Emma J. Thomas, Feb. 
19, 1873. He is living at Obi, N. Yo 

Lida May McQueen-Lewis^, b. July 4. 1874, and m. to Linn A. Lewis, Nov. il, 
1891. They live at Obi, N. Y. 

Burdette Wilson Lewis^". b. June 3, 1894 ; d. at 9 months. 
Leo Lyle Lewis^", b. Aug. 16, 1897. 
Clifford Leroy Lewis^**, b. Nov. 16, 1899. 
Orla Seymour McQueen^, b. Jan. 11, 1886. 
Leon Ephraim McQueen^, b. Nov. 28, 1891. 
James McQueen*. Born Nov. 5, 1836, Married Mary E. Preston, March 28, 1872. 
Enlisted in the 136th N. Y. Volunteers in the Civil War, but was rejected because of lung 
trouble. 

Howard Preston McQueen^, b. Nov. 3, 1S77 ; d. 1901. 

Jennie Lilian McQueen-Burdick', b. June 17, 1884; ra. to Horace Burdick, Sept. 
25, 1901, at Palermo, N. Y. 



172 ^be (Brcene jFamilp 



Ella Marion Burdick'*', b. Jan. iS, 1903. 
Catherine AIcQuei:n-Scudder-Wellwood*. She was born July 30, 1838. Married 
Orrillus Scudder. June 9, 1861. lie served three years in Co. E., iioth Regiment, N. Y. 
Volunteers, in the Civil War. He died May 16, 18S1. She married (2) Dr. James J. Well- 
wood, and lives at Wellwood, N. Y. She is again a widow. 

Oscar McQueen^, Born June 14, 1841 He married Mrs. Harriet Storer-Jennings, 
the window of Mashall Jennings, Nov. 28. 1871. He is now living on the old homestead. 
Oscar enlisted in Co. F., 147th Reg't, N. Y. Volunteers, Aug. 23, 1862. He was taken 
ill while helping to defend Washington, and after being in the hospital for months, was 
discharged Feb. 6, 1863, for physical disability. 

Frederick Ephraim McQueen^, b. Feb. 27, 1873. He was married to Luna A. Whit- 
ney, Oct. 16, 1895. He lives at Syracuse, N. Y. , and is a R. R. Postal Clerk on 
the N. Y. Central. 

George Oscar McQueen^", b. Oct. 30, 1897. 
Lida Ellen McQueen'", b. Feb. 12, 1901. 
Clara Jane McQueen-Sheldon^ b. Sept. 28, 1876. She was married to Burke J. 
Sheldon, March 17, 1897. Livmg at Schroepple, N. Y., on a farm. 
Harold Sheldon'", b. May 30, 1899. 
Fred Josiah Sheldon'", b. July 9, 1901. 
Frank Pierce Sheldon'", b. Aug. 3, 1903. 
Henry Seymour McQueen^ Born April 2 j, 1844. He married Al mi ra Hoyt, April 
2, 1873. He is a farmer and lives in Palermo, N. Y. 

CAPTAIN STEPHEN KING PIERCE". He was born July 21, 1807, 
near old Pompey, N. Y. He was of a peculiar temperament, dreamy and 
retrospective. Yet as a young man he showed the full fire and vivacity 
of his race. He was a dashing young Lieutenant in one of the Indian wars. 
While doing garrison duty, in an emergency he performed a high officer's 
part, and for this act was promoted to a captaincy. His sword that he car- 
ried at that time is now in possession of his son Amasa. 

Stephen's first wife was Mehitable Bellows. She was of a delicate, 
blonde type, sweet and gentle in all her ways. Stephen simply worshiped 
his fragile little wife. When the doctor told him that the only chance for 
her life was a change of climate, he started with her to Northern Indiana, 
that had then just been thrown open for settlement. A log cabin was hast- 
ily built. It was forty miles to the nearest pane of glass, or even a nail. 
The cabin had neither window or door that winter. An aperture in the 
the logs admitted light, and a heavy blanket was hung over the opening left 
for a door. 

Late in the winter the wife took to her bed. The author's own father, 
Nelson Nichols, sat up with her one night until late. He started homeward, 
carrying his gun with him on account of the danger of panthers or wild-cats. 
A pack of wolves took after him, and though he made all possible speed, 
were soon snarling at his heels. He used up all his shots, and brained the 
next wolf to reach him with the butt of his gun. He had given himself up for 
lost, when a light blazed out, and the wolves sulked away. His young wife, 
hearing the shots, threw aside the blanket that darkened the door, and the 




REV. DE WITT M. PIERCE AND WIFE 

OF NESBIT, OKLAHOMA 



^be (Brecne jfamil^ 173 



sudden blaze of light was all that saved him. Such were the perils of those 
early days. 

Mehitable died May 20, 1837, aged 25 years. All the neighborhood 
for miles around attended the funeral, and they numbered just — seven — ■ 
adults ! Hers was the first white person's death in what is now LaGrange 
County, Indiana. She was buried on her husband's farm, in what was after- 
wards the Pierce Cemetery. Her death was a blow from which Stephen 
never rallied. He was a changed man ever after. On his wedding day he 
had worn a fine broadcloth suit, and a tall, bell-crowned beaver hat, then 
considered the height of elegance. He declared that this suit and hat, that 
he had first worn on the happiest day of his life, he would always wear as his 
Sunday's best, in honor of his wife's memory. Forty-two years he kept that 
vow. I can remember seeing him, with his patriarchal white locks covered 
by the quaint high hat, and his spare form clothed by the carefully pre- 
served suit of antiquated cut. He asked to be buried in those clothes, 
and his wish was granted. He died April 2. 1880, in his seventy- 
third year. 

Stephen's second wife was Pamelia Burr Olds, They were married in 
1838. She was the type of a strong, courageous New England woman, 
conscientious and hardworking. She could never, however, overcome his 
melancholy. She died in 1890, aged 76. 

Stephen had one son by his first wife, Fernando C. He was romantic 
and headstrong, and ran away in boyhood to see more of the world. In 
1865 he suddenly appeared, quite as the hero of the old novel used to do, 
with gold in his purse, and a belt of gold around his waist, and a story of 
years spent in Central America and on the Pacific Coast. He had just sold 
a mine in Idaho for the gold he brought with him. He spent his money 
generously, enjoyed a visit with the home friends, then passed on to Mis- 
souri. He made bad investments, and in seven years time was working as 
a day laborer. His wife, Emma Johnson of Missouri, died leaving him two 
children, Viola Maud and Julian Stephen. Fernando then went to Califor- 
nia, and from that time to this has never been heard from. 

The children and grandchildren of Stephen and Pamelia Pierce are as 
follows : 

ReVo DeWitt M. Pierce*. He was born Nov. 27, 1843, and married Christina 
Bassler in November, 1867. Mrs. Pierce was born in Germany in 185O; and came to 
America when three years old. The father and mother always lived with DeWitt. Some- 
time after his father's death he went west, and entered the ministry. He is now located 
near Kingfisher, Oklahoma, where he owns a quarter section of land. He takes a great in- 
terest in genealogy and has helped hiuch in data for this chapter. 

Gertrude Evalinda Pierce-Hays^, b. Oct. 4, 1868. Her husband is William Hays. 
They live in Kingman, Kansas. 

Walter Scott Pierce®; b. Aug. 20, 1870, M. Maud Collins. They live in Kansas 
City, Mo. 



174 ^^^ (Brcene jfaintl^ 



Wellington Gladstone Pierce^'*, b. Oct. 4, 1898. 
Hortense Imogen Pierce-Cochrane^, b. July 18, 1872. She is the wife of William 
Cochrane, and their home is at Kingfisher, Oklahoma. 
Dwight Upton Cochrane^", b. April 26, 1900. 
Carl Jay Pierce**, b. in July, 1874. Married Minnie E. Hnodgrass, Sept. 3, 1902. 
Lura Viola Pierce-HoUar^, b. Jan. 9, 1877. M. to Charles B, Hollar, of Claude, 
Oklahoma. 

Hays Iiollari«, b. Dec. 6, 1898. 
Christine Hollar^^, b. Aug. 9, igoo. 
Marian Jane Pierce-Dahe^j b, March 8, 1879. M. to Henry H. Dahe, of Okeene, 
Oklahoma. Mr. Dahe is a native of Germany. 

Paul Arthur Dahe'", b. Aug. I, 1899 ; d. young. 
Clarence Russell Dahe^", b. Feb. 9, 1901. 
Earl Adelia Pierce^, b. Feb. 27, 1881. 
John Stephen Pierce', b. March 3, 1884. 
Ralph Clay Pielce^ b. Sept. 11, 1887. 
Olive Elsie Pierce', b. Dec 11, 1889 ; d. young. 
Elmer Le Roy Pierce', b. May 7, 1891. 
Orril Pierce— ScHOFiELD*. She was born near Wolcottville, Indiana, in 1845. and 
married to Joseph Schoheld. May 12, 1870. Her home is in Hammond, Indiana. She has 
had 8 children, all of whom are living. 

Minnie May Schofield— Ray', b. Feb. 18, 1871 ; m. to Thomas Ray, July 3, 1891. 
Alvin Rayi*', b. July 26, 1894. 
Walter Ray^', b. March 20, 1897, 
Leon Rayi°, Oct. 17, 1900 ; d. Feb. 3, 1902. 
John Pierce Schofield', b. May 16, 1873. 

Charles Henry Schofield', b. March 20, 1875 ; m. Annie Custy, Jan. 11, 1902. 
Clara Jane Schofield— Rhodes', b. April 27, 1877; m. to Peter Rhodes, Dec. 31, 1899 
Ralph Emerson Rhodes'", b. Sept. 16. 1900. 
Roy Cecil Rhodes'*, b. June 11. 1902, 
Bertha Victoria Schofield-Veach', b. Aug. 3 1879; m. to Henry Veach, Jan. 22, 
1903. 

Grace Myrtle Schofield',, b. Aug. 7, 1881. 
George Washington Schofield', b. Dec. 20, 1883. 
Elmer Ellsworth Schofield', b. April i, 1887 
Amos PIERCE^ a twin. Born July 3, 1848. He served in the Civil War. Is married 
and living somewhere in Missouri. He is said to be doing well. 

Amasa Pierce^, a twin brother to Amos. He went to Minnesota about ,1876. July 3, 
1877, he married INIartha, the daughter of Henry and Lucinda Stanley-McKibben. Two 
of her double cousins married relatives of Amasa's. Martha is of the Jennings-Stanley 
family of Illinois, from which William Jennings Bryan also sprang. They live at Butler, 
Minnesota. 

Evangeline J „ Pierce-Thompson', b. June 5, 1878 , m. to Persia B. Thompson, 
Oct. 13, 1898. 

Jefferson Thompson'", b. Sept. 10, 1901. 
Leona M. Pierce', b. 1886 ; d. 1888. 

Elna M. Pierce- Reeser', b. Oct. 11, 1881 , m. to William Reeser. 
Pamelia Lucinda Pierce', b. Nov. 29, 1883. Is a teacher. 
Archibald J. Pierce', b. Oct. il, 1885. 
Elsie M. Pierce', b. Oct. 20, 18S7. 
Minnie V. Pierce', b. Sept. 18, 1S89. 
Infant son, still-born, July 29, 1891. 
Stella L. Pierce', b. Nov. 5, 1892. 
Frank S. Pierce', b. Dec. 18, 1896. 



CHAPTER XXV 

DESCENDANTS OF ELIZABETH KING-KITTELLE*^ 

Family Trees. For descent from the first Lord de Greene de Boke- 
ton, A. D. 1 202, and from the Capet royal line, A. D. 861, see Chapter XI. 

For their lineage from John Greene of Quidnessett, together with that 
from Capt. Straight, Elder Obediah Holmes, Stukeley Westcott and Hngh 
Parsons, see Chapter XX. 

For their descent from John King and Peter La Valley, see Chapter 
XXII. 



Elizabeth King-Kittelle*' was the fourth daughter of Samuel and Deborah 
Greene-King\ She was born about the close of the year 1771 and married 
about 1800 to her cousin, her aunt Dinah Greene-Kittle's son, James Kittle. 
The family now write it Kittelle or Kettelle. The name is an old British 
one. It is a place name, denoting that the first name-bearer lived by a river 
kittle, i. e., a wier or fish-trap. The family tradition is that the family came 
from England after 1700. But I find this peculiar name before 1650 among 
the Massachusetts colonists. It is probably the same family. It is usual 
for a few generations to be dropped in traditions. 

We know little of these cousins. James was a farmer. His wife Eliza- 
beth is yet remembered for her serenity and goodness. They had five child- 
ren. Their daughter Roby never married, nor did their only son, Anthonyo 
Their descendants are all from Hannah, Olive, or Deborah. Elizabeth died 
Dec. 10, 1838, and her husband some 13 years later. 

HANNAH KITTELLE-HARRINGTON', b. Oct. 11, 1801 ; d. Dec. 
27, 1843. She m. Daniel Harrington, who outlived her 29 years. He was 
born Dec. 28, 1801, and was the son of Job and Mereba Harrington, and 
grandson of Job Harrington, Senior, an old friend and next neighbor of 
]\Iagdalen King's in West Greenwich. Job Harrington, Senior, was himself 
the son of a still older Job. The Harringtons are from a centuries-old 
English famJly, the heads of which bore high titles. Hannah and Daniel 
lost tw^o small children who are not enumerated. 

175 



176 ^be (Brcene family 



Carmi Harrington'*, b. Nov. 23, 1822; d. June 17, 1887. He m. Lydia Coggeshall 
of Middleton. The Coggeshalls came for religious liberty to R. I. at the time Mrs. Anne 
Hutchinson was expelled from Mass. for heresy. They helped to found Portsmouth in 1638. 
One of this family, John Coggeshall, the first President of the Colony, died in office in 
1648 ; and Joshua, his son, was one of the three founders of the Friends in R. I. 

John L. C. Harrington^, b. July 22, 1858 ; m. in 1880 to Ella Borden of Middle- 
town. The Bordens were cotemporaries of the Coggeshalis, and very prominent 
people indeed in the pioneer days of R. I. John and Ella have Erma Rebecca, 
born June 12, 1881, and lost a son, John William, who was younger. 
Nancy Harrington-Albro*, b. Aug. 22, 1824 ; d. March S, 1866. She m. H. Green 
Albro. He was descended from " Quaker" John Alborough or Albro, one of the earliest 
R. I. refugees tor religious faith 

Alanson Albro',* m. his fourth cousin, Eva Capwell, daughter of Searles and 
Susan Capwell. [Eva**, Susan^, of James Greene'', James®, AbeP, James*, John of 
Bristol^, Lieut. James^, John Greene of Quidnessett^.] They have 6 children. 
Stephen Albro^. 
Daniei, Harrington'', b. Sept. 27, 1834 ; d. Oct. 14, 1895. He m. Sarah A. Spink, 
Oct. 10, 1852. She was descended from Robert Spink, first of Allerton and later of Quid- 
nessett, more than 200 years ago. Daniel and Sarah had a large family, four of whom were 
born dead, and two others of whom died before they were grown. I give the adult children 
only. This family lived for some years in Pa., then removed to Kansas. 

Ida Harrington— Stauffer^, b. Nov. 7, 1855 ; m. Robert StaufTer in 1880. No 
children, 

Hannah Harrington-Sharits*, b. June 13, 1858 ; m. William Sharits in 1886. They 
have Rika, Oakley Brown, and Bonnie. 

Nellie E. Harrington—Smith^, b. June 13, 1863 ; m, James Smith in 18S6. They 
have a son, Roscoe Lectis. 

Lucia Harrington-Mercer', b. Aug. 2. 1866 ; m. Joseph Mercer in 1885. They 
have Robert Earl, William Dwight, Gladys, Burnett, Margaret and Joseph Daniel. 

Addie A, Harrington— Grubb', b. Jan. 24, 1868 ; m. Charles Grubb in 1887. Their 
son is Albert Roy, 

William D. Harrington', b, Jan. 2. 1873 ; m, Emily H, Lee in 1896. They have 
Raymond, Rosa Pearl and Lawrence Edwin, 

ANTHONY KITTELLE^ the only son of James and Elizabeth, died 
unmarried. 

ROBY KITTELLES b. April 11, 1807; died at 72, nninarried. 
OLIVE KITTELLE-MATTESON^ b. Aug. 16, 1810; d. Feb. 20, 
1857. She married her cousin's son, John Weaver Mattesonl His mother 
was Ruth Howard-Matteson^. Her line merges with his, and will be found 
in Chapter XXVII. 

DEBORAH KITTELEE-FIELD', of James and Elizabeth Kittelle, b. 
July 27, 181 2 ; d. in 1878. She was the wife of Albert S. Field, of Provi- 
dence, R. I. 

Sarah W. Field^, 1841-1855. Died at 14. 

Alfred F, Field*, b. Aug. 11, 1842 ; m, Mary E, Kenyon. They had Sara, who d, at 
25 ; Minnie G., who d. at 23 ; and .\lbert K., who d. at 2 ; besides these : 

Marion Deborah Field-Hobart', b. April 21, 1871, wife of William H. Hobart, 
Their child is Helen Marion. 

Albert Searles Field', b. June 25, 1875. 

This is given also as Alphoase. 



^he (Breene jfamil^ 177 



Jennii: E. Fielu-Johxson^, of Deborah'. Wife of Thomas J. Johnson of Dwight, 
111. She is now a widow. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson lost their first child, Byron Love, 
at four. Other children came to them until there were five, filling the house with their 
happy play and laughter. Dec, 1882, scarlet fever — that dread disease, of which the bare 
mention of the name makes a parent shudder — entered that home. Eight year old Herbert died 
on Dec. 12 ; 7-yeai old Byron on Dec. 20, little 4-years old Roscoe on Dec. 24; and 
lO-year old Irving, rhe oldest child, on Dec, 26. Every boy they had perished in two 
weeks, leaving only their little sister, Viola, born July 31, 1880. 



13 



CHAPTER XXVI 



DESCENDANTS OF GEORGE KING'' 



Famii^y Trees. For the descent from Sir Alexander, first Lord de 
Greene de Boketon, A. D. 1202, and the descent from Robert the Strono-, 
Duke de France, A. D. 861, see Chapter XL 

For their lineage from John Greene of Ouidnessett, through James 
Greene', by their father, and through ]\[artha Greene*, by their mother ; also 
their lineage from Capt, Thomas Straight, Stukeley Westcott, Elder Obediah 
Holmes and Hugh Parsons, see Chapter XX. 

For their descent from John King and Peter La Valley, see Chapter 
XXn. For the mediaeval history of the Alattesons, see Appendix. 



George King" was the fifth child and first son of Samuel and Deborah 
Greene-King\ He was born May 21, 1774, and died in 1833. He married 
his second cousin, Meriba ]\Iatteson, who was born April 25, 1779, and died 
in 1847. jMeriba was of Greene descent, and also doubly descended from 
Henry Matteson, the Emigrant. Her Greene blood w^as of the same line as 
her husband's. His grandfather, James Greene^, and her grandmother, 
Martha Greene', were brother and sister, children of John of Bristol, grand- 
children of Lieut. James, and great-grandchildren of John Greene of 
Quidnessett. 

Meriba's grandmother, Martha Greene^, married Joseph Matteson, (see 
Chapter XX,) the son of Emigrant James ]\Litteson. Their son was Ezekiel'\ 
and two of his daughters, this ]\Ieriba and her sister Esther, married sons of 
Samuel King. Their father, Ezekiel, married a wife of his own name, 
Rosanna Matteson, and her line was this : James, the father of the ]\Iatte- 
sons, married Hannah, daughter of Hueh Parsons. Theirnext to the voung- 
est son was Josiali, who married Rosanna, daughter of Zerubabel, grand- 
daughter of Robert and great-grand-daughter of Stukeley Westcott, of whom 
Chapter VII tells. Their son, Josiah Jr., married Mercy Nichols, of Stephen 
Nichols. Their daughter Rosanna, named for her Westcott grandmotherj 
married Ezekiel Matt^son^, and was the mother of Meriba. 

178 



\ 



CTe (Brccne 3Famili? 179 



Now as it happened, the Kings' grandfather, James Greene*, married 
Elizabeth Straight, whose mother had been a Rosanna Westcott also, a 
daughter of Amos, and grand-daughter of Stukeley Westcott. So on that 
side George and Meribah were again related, being about fourth cousins to 
each other. They were again twice-over fourth cousins through their de- 
scent from Hugh Parsons. John Greene of Bristol's wife was a grand- 
daughter of his, and Joseph and Josiah ]\Iatteson, sons of the Emigrant, 
were grandsons also. Nothing pleases a Rhode Islander like being mixed 
up ina tangled relationship. These four-different- ways-related young people 
were considered as having done quite the proper thing to have made anotlier 
cross in the relationship, to hand down to their children. 

The peculiar name of ]\Ieribah was for a long time confined strictly to 
families descended from the Huguenot family of Lascelle, (see Appendix) 
whose foremother was ]\Ieribe. It was a favorite name with the Waites, 
Garrs, etc., of that blood. Meribah INIatteson-King was a namesake of some of 
these, and so the quaint, centuries-old name became grafted into this family 
tree, to reappear in her namesakes. 

George King lived and died at West Greenwich, on a farm adjoining 
that of the old family homestead, the ISIagdalen King farm where his father, 
Samuel King lived. They had se\'en children, 4 sons and 3 daughters. 
Celia's Ime went west ; Caleb's went to N. Y. The others remained in R. I. 

DAVID KING", born July 23, 1802. He married his first cousin, 
Thankful Hopkins, the third child of Christopher and Dinah King-Hopkins*'. 
She was born April 17, 1802. They were each about 20 when married. 
They had nine children, 4 sons and 5 daughters. They had few grand- 
children or great-grand-children. The name of King entirely lapsed in 
their successors. 

Sai.ly a. King-Sweet^, b. April 2g, 1S23. M. Wm. Rhodes Sweet. Had 3 daughters 
and 2 sons. Mary became Mrs. George Brown. She is dead. John Sweet was twice 
married, and has two children, Mamie and Emma ; Eliza m. Lewis M. Hawkins. Both are 
dead, leaving no children. 

Deborah King^. Died young. 

John King^, b. Feb. 24. 1S26. Died at 24. 

Amanda King-Tarbox*, b. Marcii 29, 182S , m. David Tarbox, a distant relative. 
[David®, Fones", Joseph^, Lois Matteson-Tarbox^, Martha Greene-Matteson*, John Greene^ 
of Bristol, Lieut. James', John Greene' of Quidnessett.] She died July 5, 1853, leaving 
Abbie A., who m. Hiram Peck, and had Sarah and Dora ; and Sarah J., who m. Robert 
Jackson, and had Grace, Thomas and Almyra. that lived. 

Abbie A. King*, b. July 3. 1829 ; d. single. 

George King*. Died young. 

Ann Eliza King--Franklin*, b. April 21, 1834. M. Clark Franklin. Their son, 
John C. Franklin^, m. his third cousin, Annie E. Howard. [Annie'-*, John W®., Ephraim', 
Hannah King-Howard^, Deborah Greene-King^ etc.] Mr. Franklin is a teacher. 
Sarah Franklin^", b. April 27, 188S. 
Charles Sheldon Franklin^", b. July 29, i88g. 



i8o ^be (Breene Ifatnil^ 

Charles C. King**, born July. 1S36. Died single. 

Rhodes A. King*, 1339-1S92. M. Maiy A. Hughes. No chikiren. • 

JOHN KING'. Died young. 

]\IARCY (MERCY) KING-BROMLEY' of George*' of Deborah Greene- 
King•^ She was born April 10, 1807; d.' June 17, 1846. Married Roger 
Bromley in 1825. A few years after they were married, they lived for a 
time in N. Y. Bromley P. O. in that state is named after Mercy's husband. 
The first child died in infancy. The records of the others are as follows : 

William Bromley*, b. 1831. lie lives in Michigan. Nov. 25, 1S55, he m. Caroline 
Latham, and has Lillian, b. in 1856, and Frank b. 1866, 

^LvRY A. Bromi KV-TIowARD*. b 1S35, and m. in 1855 to Charles D. Howard, of 
Mass. descent. His tirsi American ancestor. John Howard, or Haward, or Hayward, as 
tliey spelled the name then, was a protege of Captain Miles Standish. The Howard family 
is a very old one. and was honorably distinguished more than i ,000 years ago. This branch 
of the family have a beautiful coat-of-arms. Mrs. Howard is a wide-awake woman, that 
takes an interest in the questions and reforms of the day. She is the mother of S children. 
Her home is in Bawtucket, R. L 

George B. Howard', b. 1856. Died young. 

Cliarles \V. Howard^ b, July 24, 1858. He m. Hannah Greenhalgh. i daughter 
Nellie E. b. July 31, 1SS4, 

Julia Ida Howard— Bedford", b. Oct. 26, 1S64 ; married John Bedford, Oct. iS, 
1892. They have Grace IL, b. 1S94 ; Alice E., 1S96 ; Ethel M.. 1899 ; and twins. 
Bertha and Lucy, born Dec. 31, 1902. 

Clara A. IIoward-Marcroft*. b. Oct. 12, 1868. She married Samuel Marcroft' 
Nov. 1S94 They have Howard K., b. 1896 ; the twins Samuel D., and Charles 
D., i8g8 ; Hazel, 1900 ; and Roy. 1901. 

Mary Emma Howard", born March 10, 1S60 ; Jennie F., born March 29, 1870. 

W'illiam Henry, b. ?darch 12, 1S72 ; and Franklin B. Howard, b. May 21, 1876, are 

none of them married in 1904. 

James Bromley^, of Marcy King— Bromley', of George King*"', was born in 1837. He 

lives in Minnesota 

• Sarah Bromley -Esterbrooks*, (Marcy'', George^.). Wife of Edward Esterbrooks. 

2 children, Nancv, born i860, and Marv, born in 1S64. 

Charles Bromley*, b. 1S41. Married, but no children. Lives in Wisconsin. 
Aloxzo Bromley*, b. 1843. He lives in Michigan. He has one son , Leslie, born in 1876. 
Julia Bromley-Whittemore*, 1845-1875. Wife of Gilbert Whittemore. No children. 

SARAH KING-WINSOR", of George'^ of Deborah Greene-Kingl B. 
May 9, 181 1 ; d. in May, 1897. She m. Joseph Winsor in May, 1830. She 
was the mother of 7 children, 5 of whom died in infancy. 

George E. Winsor*, b. May 2, 1S31 ; m. Emeline A. Eddy in 1850. Their son Charles 
E., born 1851, and their daughter, Minnie A., born in 1864, never married. Their dau.. 
Anna Cora, was born in 1862. She is the wife of Edward Gee, and has two children, Ethel 
and Helen. 

Sarah Winsor-Esten*, b, Aug. 25, 1834 ; m. Leprelett Esten in 1S55. 2 children, 
Charles and Florence died in childhood. Leprelett W., b. in 1856 ; m. Alice D. Bradford. 
No children. Walter K. Esten, b. 1868 • m. Alice L. Whitehead. One child, Florence 
Gertrude, born 1903- Bertha F. Esten, born in 1S71 ; m. William F. Marshall. They 
have Clinton E., born in 1S92. and Helen E.. in 1895. 

WHIPPLE KING", of George", of Deborah Greene-King'. He was born 
June 9, 1813, and died Aug 29. 1903, in his 91st year. 3600 years ago, 




OF THE TENTH GENEltATlON 

DAUGHTER OF WALTER K. AND ALICE ESTEX 
B. SEP. 12, 1903 



?eF- 




THE SITE OF THE OLD MAGDALEN-KING HOME, WHERE 
GEORGE KING WAS BORN 




FOUR GENERATIONS OF ONE FAMILY 

Whipple King, b. June 9, 181 3 ; J. W. P. King, his son, b. 

Feb. 24, 1847 ; George W. King, grandson, b. May 19, 1867, 

and George W. King, Jr., great-grandson, b. Feb. 25, 1899. 



^be (Breene jfamtl^ iSi 



Joseph brought his father Jacob before Pharaoh. As that haughty king looked 
upon that head, blossomed white with time, and beheld his venerable count- 
enance, he was moved, and said, " How old art thou?" There is indeed a 
gracious old age that singles out its possessor from other men. 

No higher compliment can be paid to Whipple King than to say that 
he so shaped his life that 90 slow-rolling years but brought serenity to his 
countenance and fortitude to his soul. He was the patriarch of his clan, 
and the revered father-deacon of his church. His son's children's children 
looked up to " Big Grandpa" as their grown-up playmate. His son and his 
grandson looked to him for counsel. To the last he retained his interest in 
the world about him. He took much interest in The Greene Tree and its 
Branches, that he was destined never to see in print. Several times he 
dictated letters embodying his almost century-long recollections, and sent it 

to me to help over difficult portions of the book. He passed peacefully 
away after a short illness, on Aug 29th, 1903. 

Whipple King was a farmer. He for a time lived in Onondaga Co., 

N. Y., and in Griswold, Conn. Afterwards he lived on what is known as 

the Passaquisett Brook Farm, not far from Kenyon, R, L It was here that 

he died. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Luke Clark, of Richmond, R. I. 

She was 17 months younger than himself, but died some years first. They 

had but one son. 

John W. P. Kin3* was bom Feb. 24, 1847. Ilis wife was Harriet E. Tefft, daughter of 
Sprague and Eliza M. Tefft, whom he married in Griswold, Conn., Dec 7, 1S65. She was 
born Jan. 31, 1845. They have three children. J. W. P. King taught school for 20 years. 
He is a director in two banks, but resides on his Passaquissett Brool< farm, and considers 
himself first of all a farmer. Both he and his wife take a great irterest in temperance work. 
He has been for years one of the State Prohibition Committeemen, and was their last candi- 
date for State Treasurer. There was not the shadow of a chance of this party being elected, 
but he received a highly complimentary vote of over 1,600. 

George Whipple King^, of J. W. P. King*, of Whipple'', of George'', b. May ig, 
1867. He married Martha E., daughter of Capt. Thomas Saunders, Aug. 13, 1S91. 
After his graduation, George King was for some years in the government service 
among the Indians. He is now an officer at the R. I. Reform School, at Howard, 
R. I. He is an e,\pert amateur photographer. He photographed for this work the 
Huguenot graves in the old iVIagdalen King Cemetery. The little girl sitting between 
her great-great-grear-gieat-grandparents' graves is Sarah, his second daughter. 

Frances Elizabeth King''', b. Aug. 9, 1S92, at Klamath Indian Agency, 
Oregon. 
Sarah Saunders King^**, b. June g, 181 15. 
George W. King, Jr.", b. Feb. 25, 1S99. 
Ruth Elizabeth King-Earnsliaw^. B. Feb. ig. 1872 ; dau. of J. W. P. King. 
She was married Aug. i, 1896, to Oscar E, Earnshaw. 
Eldred King Earnshaw'", b. Oct. i, 1898. 
Joanna Reynolds King-Clark". B. Sept. 28, 1873. She m. Thomas G. Clark, 
April 25, 1895. 

Leon Whipple Clark'", b. March 19, 1898. 
Edith May Clark'", b. March 16, 1899. 



182 ^be 6recne family 

CELIA KING-KING', of George'. vShe married her double cousin, 
Thomas Matteson King', son of Joel and Esther ]\Iatteson-King. Her line 
is therefore merged into his. See Chapter XXX. 

CALEB KING", of George^, of Deborah Greene-King\ He was born 
Feb. 21, 1820. D. Feb. 22, 1863, aged 43. His son gives this biography: 
"In the month of Feb., 1838, Caleb King left his birthplace in West Green- 
wich, R. I., traveling 300 miles in mid-winter, with a horse drawing a sled 
made from green sapling poles. On his eighteenth birthday he arrived at 
his Uncle Joel King's in Pompey, N. Y." He married Elizabeth Bonat, or 
Bennett, as it is more commonly called. Her grandfather was John Bonat, 
who came from German}-. Her father, Peter Bonat, was a pioneer at Tully, 
N. Y. Peter's wife and Elizabeth's mother was a Van Patten of Holland 
extraction. They were long-lived, Elizabeth's grandmother A'an Patten liv- 
ing to be 99. Caleb died on his farm near Tully. His wife outlived him 
ten years. They were Baptists, and gave liberally toward the erection of 
the Church at Vesper, N. Y. Five children li^•ed to be grown. 

George IvING^, of Caleb' of George®, etc. B. April 27, 1846. He is a merchant at 
Borodino, N. Y.. and al one time was Postmaster. Nov. 13, 1S73, he married Dora S. 
Wriyjht of Manlius, N. Y. They have one son, Wright R. King, wiio was born Sept. 24 
1874. Wright was married in 1896 to Gertrude Taylor of Spafford, N. Y. They have no 
children. lie is now engaged with his father in the mercantile business. 
Pkter B. King*, b. May 11, 1S48 ; d. Dec. 6, 1S70, aged 22 years. 
Joel King*, b. Jan. 31. 1850. Dec. 6, 1871, he m. Diana Evans of Cicero, N. Y 
They had Albert, Henry and Bertha E. This wife died in 1880. Joel m. (2) Mary E 
Northway, Dec. 3, 1881. They have William R., born March 29, 1883, and Grace E.. b. 
Sept. 25, 1S88. 

Bertha E. King-Talmadge^, b. Dec. 26, 1S74 , m. to Clarence Talniadge, June 24 

1896. They live at Davenport Center, N. Y. , and have Eniiie K., Clarence L., 

Mary Bernice, Clara Grace and Diana L. 

Sarah M. King-P.\rkerson*, of Caleb'' of George^. She was born March 6, 1852, 

married Oct. 29, 186S, to Francis Marion Parkerson, and has been a widow since 1891. 

7 children, all of whom live in N. Y. 

Henry Marion Parkerson^, b. July 30. 1870. 

Emma Louise Parkerson- Holmes^, b. Nov. 16, 1872. Is the widow of Leon V. 
Holmes. No children. 

George Bennett Parkerson', b. Jan. 10, 1875 ; m. Edith E. Clark. Their children 
areBernie Rosette and Marion Orson. 

Maud Elizabeth Parkerson-Hughes^, b. Dec. 28, 1B77. Wife of Wm. James 
Hughes. They have one child Harold K. 
Anna May Parkerson®, b. ^L^y 15. 1879. 
Arlie Starr Parkerson^, b. Aug. 11, 1887. 

Elsie Marion Parkerson', b. April 21, 1 891, just one week before her father's death. 
Caleb E. King*, of Caleb', of George®, etc" He was b. Feb. 23, 1863. On his 24th 
birthday he married Mary E. Landphier of Scott, N. Y. She is descended from the Hug. 
uenot family of Lanphears of R. I., who came to the colony a few years prior to 1700, to 
escape religious persecution. He was a man much esteemed. He was a merchant at Bor- 
odino. N. Y., and served several years on the Board of Supervisors of Onondaga Co. He 
died suddenly while sitting in his office, April 2, 1901. Their son Clarence died in 1888, a 
small babe. Their other child, Ruth Elizabeth, was b. May 11, 1893. 



i 




CALEB E. KING. 1S63-1902 



Reproduced by permission from S^(pervi8ors^ Journal for looo. He luas a 
mcmhcr of the Board of Supervisors at his death 



CHAPTER XXVII 

DESCENDANTS OF HANNAH KING-HOWARD^ 

Family Trees. For descent from the first Lord de Greene de Boketon, 
A. D. 1 202, and descent from the royal Capet line of France, A. D. 861, see 
Chapter XL 

For lineage from John Greene of Qnidnessett, and from Capt. Straight, 
Stnkeley Westcott, Elder Obediah Holmes and Hugh Parsons, see 
Chapter XX. 

For descent from John King and Peter La Valley, see Chapter XXU. 



Hannah King-Howard'' was the sixth child and fifth daughter of Sam- 
uel and Deborah Greene-King\ She was born June 25, 1777, and d. April 
6, 1831. Her husband, Capt John Howard, was born July 27, 1773, and 
outlived her 14 years, dying May 28, 1845. ^'^ ^794? when he was 21 and 
she 17, they were married. In August of that year he bought a farm of his 
mother, and on this farm, a few miles out from Washington, R. I., they 
lived and died. 

The Howards are a very old family. The family themselves are fond 
of claiming Hereward, the brave Saxon who took his stand on the Island of 
Ely, and was the last to surrender to William the Conqueror (1073), holding 
out seven years against him, as their ancestor. But he was only one of this 
tribe, not the founder. The Howards held the hereditary ofhce of Hog 
Warden under the Saxon kings, who took pride and found profit in immense 
herds of swine that fattened on the acorn mast of the king's forest. These 
swine had to be herded, marked and ringed, killed and cured, and the meats 
disposed of. The officer who had the oversight of all this ranked high at 
the King's Court, the office itself corresponding somewhat to our President's 
Secretary of the Interior. 

The English tongue of a thousand years ago made short work of Hog 
Warden. It became Ho-warden, then Hayward, and last of all, Howard. 
Historians write it Howard, as pronounced, but common usage in England, 
that even yet lingers in the " tight little isle," is to spell it Hereward, Hay- 

133 



i84 ^be 6rcenc Jfainil^ 

ward and Haward, but to speak of it as Howard. It is the survival of the 
spelling of the name when is was yet called Haward and Hay ward. Some 
families used all three spellings, at the fancy of the individual members. 
During the Conquest all titles were taken from the Saxons. The Howards 
were almost the first family to whom title was restored. The blood of the 
Howards flows in half a dozen ducal families in England. Almost alone, of 
English families of noble or gentle blood, they are of Saxon, and not of 
Norman descent. 

The first Howards that came to the colonies were Lieut. Thomas Hay- 
ward and Ensign John Haward, who came about 1638. They settled first 
at Duxbury, and later at Bridgewater, Mass. Nahum Mitchell, the cele- 
brated antiquarian, was himself born at Bridgewater. He says these two 
men were related, and both called themselves Howard, being distinguished 
as Hayward of the Plain, and Haward of the Hill. The coat-of-arms of the 
American branch of the family has been authenticated. 

Its shield is divided by a bend^ a broad band passing diagonally across 
it. The upper and lower fields thus separated, each bear as charges three 
cross-crosslets fitchec^ i. e., crosses, with the lower part pointed, as though 
sharpened to drive in the ground, while the top and side arms, that make 
the familiar " cross," are themselves each crossed by a bar, making a cross 
or crosslet of each point. The crest above the shield is a crowned lion, de- 
noting that some of the family have intermarried with royalty. The motto 
is Virtus Sola Invicta — Virtue alone is invincible. 

Capt. Howard descended from Lieut. Thomas Hayward the Emigrant. 
He himself adopted Howard as the spelling of his name, but his mother in 
her deed to him in 1794 is called Elizabeth Hayward. Emigrant Thomas 
was a Deputy, or as we now say, Representative to the Old Plymouth As- 
sembly. Two of his sons fought in King Philip's War. A daughter, 
Dorothy, was captured with others, by the Indians in 1675. She had once 
shown a special kindness to an Indian boy. Her captors put her compan- 
ions to death, but treated her kindly because of the past, and finally sent her 
back to her family. 

This incident illustrates a familv trait. Great kindliness of heart be- 
longed to them. They were a quiet family, talking but little, and never 
pushing themselves forward. Nevertheless, their substantial qualities always 
brought them to the fore. The prevailing disposition of the family is yet 
of this type. 

Lieut. Thomas had a son Deacon Josiah. One of the Deacon's sons was 
Joseph, born 1673. ^^ moved to Wraynham, jVIass., and his sons again 
scattered, so as to be difficult to trace. 

It is thought that one of his sons was Ephraim, born 17 16, who lived 



i 



tEbc Greene jfaintl^ 1S5 

for a time at Braintree, ]Mass., and from there, still a young man, came to 
R. I. 

Epliraim married Tabitlia Hill,* thus bringing in a strain of Lascelle- 
Wardwell, Waite and Hill blood, for which see Appendix. Ephraim's wife 
died when he was ;^7^. He died lo years later, Aug. 9, 1759, leaving Ephraim, 
Jr., and two other sons. 

Ephraim, Junior, m. Elizabeth JNIyers, April 12, 1764. They had 5 
children, of whom the youngest was our Capt. John who married Elizabeth 
King. His family have always been very proud of him. He was a man 
of rectitude and influence, and was honored in many ways. He was 
commissioned a Captain in the State ]\Iilitiain 1806, and was ever afterwards 
called by that title. To him and his wife were born nine children, one of 
whom died at birth, and is not named in my list. Three adults of this family 
never married. 

. OLIVER HOWARD", [Elizabeth^, Deborah Greene-King\ James 
Greene*, John of Bristol'^, Lieut. James", John of Ouidnessett\] He was b. 
April 5, 1795, and was a twin. He died in Sept., 1868. Oliver's wife was 
Sarah Tefft. They had a family of 10 children, not one of whom died in 
infancy. By a strange fatality his line, nevertheless, almost died out, being 
continued in a small way by but one son. 

George W., the oldest son, d. in 1844, at 22 ; Palmer G., the next son, 
died the next year, aged 21 ; Alfreda, Hannah and Sarah died in '52, '53 and 
'56, aged respectively 18, 21 and 17 years. Amy died in 1897, unmarried, 
at the age of 67 ; Abbie F., born in 1837, never married ; Elizabeth became 
Mrs. Oliver R. INIatteson, and Tryphena became i\Irs. Henry A. Harkness. 
No record given of any issue to either of them. This leaves one son alone : 

Oliver C. Howard^, b. Oct. 6, 1S44. Married at 33 to Maria L, Burton. 
Charles Howard®, b. July 8, 1878 ; died when 3 years old. 
Henry Howard®, b. Sept. 24, 1880. 
Mary M. Howard®, b. July 23, 1887. 

RUTH HOWARD-IVIATTESON^ [Hannah^ Deborah Green-King^ 
etc.,] b. Feb. 22, 1796. She married Levi Matteson. His Mattcson line- 
age was this : Henry the Emigrant m. Hannah Parsons. Their oldest son, 
Capt. Henry, m. Judith Weaver. Their son, Jonathan, Senior, married for 
his second wife Meriba Waite. Jonathan, Junior, of the next generation, 
married his cousin, Dinah Matteson of Henry\ Henry^ Henry^ And their 
son Aaron, who married Dorcas Weaver, was the father of Levi who married 
Ruth Howard. Levi gave to his children, therefore, two strains of Matteson, 
and a strain of Parsons and Lascelle-Wardwell- Waite blood. Levi and 



* Some of the family have it that his wife was Tabitlia Nichols. His graud-daugliter, Tabitha How- 
ard married Christopher Nichols. Hence arose tlie confusion. 



86 Zbc (Breene family 



Ruth's line have married back into the relationship on every side, making 
a tangle hard to unravel. 

JOHN Weaver Matteson^, b. Feb. 17, 1S20. At 22 he married his mother's cousin, Olive 
Kittle, who was some 9 years his senior. He was drowned in Narragansett Bay, by tlie 
capsizing of his boat in squall, leaving her with four small children. She died when the 
youngest was 10 years old, having literally worn herself out to provide for them and keep 
them together. 

Infant son b. and d. in 1S43. 

Henry C. Matteson', b. Jan. 3, 1S44. He was a natural mathematical genius, 
giving the answers to abstruse problems, like a flash, — one of those cases that defy 
ordinary mental laws. He entered the Civil War, and died soon after. 
• Charles E. Matteson^, b. July 5, 1845 ; d. Jan. 13, 1849. 

Sara E. Matteson-Kittelle', b. Dec. 14, 1346. She was married in 1S72 to Albert 
Kittelle, her mother's cousin. Dinah Greene, sister of Deborah Greene-King, — see 
Chapter XX, — marrieti Edward Kittelle. Albert Kittelle was one of the youngest 
sons of Asa, Dinah and Edward's son. There were no ciiildren born to Albert and 
Sara, to puzzle over their relationship. 

Mrs. Sara Kittelle has furnished me with hundreds of names for this work. She 
has started right out, visited graveyards and copied inscriptions, and taken her kind- 
red in rotation, visiting their homes, hunted up their records and family Bibles, and 
interviewed old people who knew of many unrecorded facts from their own recollec- 
tion. She has literary ability herself, and writes verses tliat have something beside a 
jingle at the end to make tliem poetry. A booklet of her poems was brought out bv 
the Gleaiiei- press, (Phenix, R. I.,) in 1903. Lack of space alone prevents me from 
giving some of her poems. The tribute to JNlary A. Andrews, in this chapter, is 
from her pen. 

Left a double orphan, she had her own way to make. She has done it, and help- 
ed others beside. Early in life she made up her mind that she would not be crusli- 
ed ; she determined to be educated and awake to the happenings of the world about 
her ; to use her brains ; to do her own thinking ; to act for herself ; and she has done 
it. She is the type of a woman who may wear out, but will never rust out. 

Aaron Weaver Matteson^, [of John W.**, Ruth^, Hannah^, etc.], b. Jan. 29, 
1849. His first wife and mother of his children, was Anna Josephine Mitchell, 
His second wife was Matilda Rathbun, who died in 1903. 

Eva Isabel Matteson-Woodmansee'", b. Aug. 18, 1874. She m. Walter 
Woodmansee, and had Walter and Howard. 

Rena Mabel Matteson-Johnson^", b. Feb. 25, 1876. She is the wife of 
William H. Johnson. Their children are Jesse Francis, Frederick Eldred, 
Minnie Alice, and an infant. 

Alma Matteson-Sweet,'" b. Jan. 31, 1880. Wife of Marinus P. Sweet. 
They have Herbert Leroy and Ilattie Josephine. 
Lenora Matteson^", d. in 1882, aged six weeks. 

Leola Maud Matteson-Andrews'", b. May 5, 1S83 . m. Lucius E. Andrews 
in 1902. 
Walter Howard Matteson^", d. in 1885, aged six weeks. 
Annie Laurie Matteson'", b. Aug. 4, 1888. 
Ruth Alma Matteson-Card', (of John W"., Ruth'', Hannah"^, etc.), b. July 17, 
1850 ; m. A. B. Card in 1891. He died early in 1904. They had no children. 
Caleb Howard Matteson*. [Rnth Howard-Matteson', Hannah King-Howard^, etc.], 
b. July 22, 1S27, and d. Oct. 17, 1884. He married Dinah Hopkins, his second cousin. 
Dinah was the daughter of Gideon, son of Dinah King-Hopkins, a sister of Caleb's grand- 
mother, Hannah King-Howard. 

Susan Matteson-Johnson'. They have a son, Howard King, b. Feb. 17, 1903. 
There is perhaps a son older. Imperfectly reported. 



^be (Brecnc Ifamili? 187 

DaviJ Matteson'. Married his second cousin, Hortilla Beile Howard, daughter of 
Geo. P., and graiid-dau. of Epliraim, and great-grand-dau. ot Hannah King— Howard. 
They have no children. Mrs. Matteson has a turn for genealogy, as have many of 
her family. 

I'hebe Matteson '. Married. Nocliildren. 

John Charles Matteson^, m. Mary, a daughter of Stephen Congdon's. They have 
Walter I'^arl, b. 1897; Frederick Lee, b. 1S99; Leon Francis, b. 1900 ; and Ida, b. 1902. 
Rev. Samuel King Matteson^, (of Ruth', of Hannah*', etc.), b. May 4, 1S25. M. (i) 
to Almira Spencer, in 1846. His children are by her. ^L (2) to his second cousin, Julia 
Hopkins, a sister to his brother Caleb's wife, Mrs. Matteson has been an invalid for many 
years. Elder Satnmy, as he is familiarly called, is well known. Although he preaches, he 
was for many years a millwright, one of the three great grandsons of Samuel King who in- 
herited his peculiar talent in that direction. He has put up all manner and all kinds of mills. 
He is said to be the best posted individual now living on the intricate Matteson genealogy. 
Calvm Matteson', b. June 28, 1S47, "i- I-aura Briggs in 1892. They lost two sons, 
Frank and Chester, 13 and 12 \ears old. 

-Ada Matteson -Tarbo.x.^", b. June 6, 1870 ; m. Fones W. Tarbox in 1893. 
They have Edith Maj', b. Feb. g. 1895 ; Harold Boyd, b. June 23, 1896 ; and 
Earl Elmer, b. June 8, 190 1. They lost an infant in 1898. 

Iva Matteson— Huling^*', b. Aug. 5. 1871 ; m. to Ray Huling in 1892. 
Maria Matteson-Vaughan', [Elder S. K*., Ruth". Hannah*, etc.], b. March 3, 
1849 She m. Lorenzo Vaughan. The Vaughans were originally Welsh, the name 
meaning little, or of small statue. In the old records it is spelled Vahan. 

Lillian A. Vaughan-Bailey'", b. Sept. 4, 1869. Wife of John Bailey. 
This is a common R. L name. I met it first in Mass. records, where Gudo 
Bayley was living in 1657. These old New England families have a way of 
■ drifting together that is astonishing to the occidental mind. Mrs. Bailey be- 
came a widow in Feb. 1903. 

Edward L. Vaughan^", b. Dec. 6, 1874 ; m. Rosa Bates in 1894. They 
have Wesley Lorenzo, b. July iS. 1897 ; Ernest Arthur, b. Dec. 14, 1899; 
and Carl Edward, b. Dec. 7, igoi. 

Frank E. Vaughan'", b. Dec. 3, 1871 ; m. in 1891 to Zizalla Northup. They 
have Cora A., Harry C. and Ralph F. 

Arthur Garfield Vaughan^", b. Dec. 27, 1881. 

Grace L. Vaughan'**, b. Dec. 20, 1S84. 

JOEL HOWARD', [of Hannah^, etc.] He was born about 1801. 
Married, when something of a bachelor, Calista Wheeler. In 1842 he pur- 
chased the Roger Bromley farm of his cousin, Mercy King-Bromley's hus- 
band. He built up a comfortable fortune on this place, where his grand- 
children yet live. In after years a post-office was established here, and was 
called Bromley after the former owner. The post-mastership has always 
been held in the Howard family. 

There may be other men as good as Joel Howard, but there were never 
any better ones, nor any more respected, than he was in his community. 
They had but one son. 

John Wheeler Howard®. He married Emma W. He died in 1899. 
Warren Joel Howard^. Present P. M. at Bromley. 
Aulie Ha^el Howard^. 

SAMUEL HOWARD', [of Hannah^ etc.] Born Aug. 2, 1802, or 
according to another account, in June, 1804, which is obviously wrong. He 



1 88 ^he (Breene Ifamili? 

d. in West Greenwich, R. I., Jan. 13, 1880. He was married in 1825 to Sus- 
annah Harrington, dau. of Aaron and Amy Brown-Harrington. Susannah 
lived until May 8, 1903, reaching the great age of 96 years and 9 days. She 
was a fine looking woman even then. 

Albert Greene Howard**, b. Aug. 14, 1826 ; d. May 25, 1S83. His first wife was Juan 
Fernandez Smith, descended from the old Quidnessett Smith and Spinl: families. She was 
the daughter of Judge Harris and Hannah Spink— Smith, and grand-daughter of Judge Ben- 
jamin and Mary Austin— Smith, all of North Kingstown, formerly Quidnessett, R. I. This 
oddly named .Mrs. Howard had marked artistic ability. Slie died in r86o, at 31, leaving 
three children. One month after her death, the babe for whom she gave her life, died also. 
Little Adeline died 3 years later, aged 7. 

Mary C. Howard— Washington— Smith*, the only surviving child of the first wife's 

was b. April 20, 1858 ; m. (i) to Pardon Arnold. They had no children. She was 

m. (2), in 1887, to Henry Washington— Smith, who was of Griffin, Georgia. They 

live in Mass. No children. I\Irs. M. C. Washington— Smith is a well known 

artist. 

Albert G. Howard* married for his second wife, Fannie B. Lamphear, of Daniel and 

Emeline Lamphear—Lamphear, of the old Huguenot family ot that name who came to R. 

I. about 1687. 

John J. Howard', b. Aug. 9, 1865 ; m. Fannie Young, who died in 1901. No 
children. Addie V. Howard— Berry', 1868-1893. She was the wife of Clark T. 
Berry, Jr., of New Hampshire. She died at 25, leaving no children. 
LucETTA Howard-Tucker'*, [of SamueF, Hannah^, etc.], b. Aug. 28, 1S2S ; m. 
Alvin P. Tucker. She d. March 12, 1850, in her 22d year. No children. 

Aaron Harrington Howard*, [of Samuel', Hannah^ etc.], b. Dec. i, 1830 ; d Nov. 
17, 1894. He m. Ahnira Northup. No children. 

DAVID HOWARD", (of Hannah*', etc.), b. Aug. 12, 1804; d. Dec. 18, 
1893, in his 90th year. He was a kindly and affectionate old gentleman. 
Because of an early love affair, he remained single all his days. He was so 
deeply attached to the old home that, after his mother's death, he kept 
house himself for o\er 40 years. 

EPHRAIM HOWARD", [of Hannah King-Howard'', Deborah Green- 
King'', James Greene^ John of Bristol", Lieut. James^, John of Quidnessett'.] 
He was born Sept. 21, 1807. He married Hannah Wicks Greene. This 
marriage brought a very mixed element indeed into the family blood. 

Hannah was the daughter of Paris Greene and his wife, Hannah Wicks, 
and the grand-daughter of Nathaniel Greene, Jr., who was descended from 
John Greene of Quidnessett. [Nathaniel, Jr.^', Squire NathanieP, Maroon 
Swamp James", Lieut. John-, John of Quidnessett'.] Now Hannah's grand- 
mother, Nathaniel's wife, was also of Greene descent. vShe was the daugh- 
ter of Jonathan Alatteson, and grand-daughter of Martha Greene-Matteson, 
own sister to James Greene, one of the ancestors of Ephraim Howard's 
mother. So that that line of Greene blood was nearly the same with both 
husband and wife. Hannah inherited Lascelle-Wardwell blood through her 
grandmother Patience, and an equal strain with her husband of Westcott, 
Straight, Holmes and Parsons blood. 



^De (Brecne family 1S9 



Ephraini and Hannah W. Howard had three children that lived, two 
sons and a daughter. 

John Wicks Howard', b. Ang. 8, 1836. This son owns tlie old home. He is a 
tvpical Howard, quietly going his way through life. Rain, heat, or cold, 52 Sundays a 
year find him at Maple Root Church, 3 miles away, attending upon its services and superin- 
tending its Sabbath School. In everything else he is as punctual, as faithful, and as con- 
scientious. 

His first wife was Elizabeth INI. Wood, daughter of Niciiolas and Sylvia Sweet-Wood- 
She was the mother of his children. She died June 24, 18S4, aged 40. He was marrid (2), 
July 12, 1887, to Hannah Eliza Sweet, by Bishop Hamilton of the M. E. Church. She 
was the daughter of William C. amd Hannah Andrews— Sweet. See her pedigree in Chapter 
XIX. At the time of her marriage, Mrs. Howard was a graduate medical and surgical 
nurse in Boston, Mass. 

A friend says of her, " W^hatever Hannah Howard undertakes, she does well." Some 
years ago she became interested in Rhode Island Genealogies. She has collected a large 
amount of data. She helped Miss James to prepare her '"Andrews Genealogy," and has 
unstintedly drawn on her memoranda to help me out in writing this book Mrs. Howard is 
a correspondent for the leading newspapers of her state. 
John \V. and Elizabeth Wood~Howard's descendants are these : 

Annie Elizabeth Howard—Franklin®, b. Dec. 2., 1800. In 187S she married her 
twice-over third cousin, John Clark Franklin the grandson of David and Thankful 
Hopkins— King, both cousins to Ephraim Howard, Annie E.'s grandfather. Both 
Mr. and Mrs. Howard are teachers They have two children, Charles Sheldon and 
Sarah, who are enrolled in Chapter XXVI, among George King's descendants. 

Frank Wheeler Howard", b. Dec. 3, 1862. In 1SS4, he went west. He settled at 
Reynolds, Idaho, and owns a large stock ranch. He was married in Boise City, Idaho. 
Ocr. 12, 1897. to Mrs. Elizabeth Gardiner-Adams. They have no children. 

Walter Eugene Howard', b. April 13, iS6g. He is a telegrapher at Taunton, 
Mass. He was married Sept. 3, 1S98, in Taunton, to Harriet Evelyn Read. TJiey 
have one daughter, Ola Elizabeth, born Sept. 2g, 1899. 

Clarinda Howard— Bates®, b. April 17, 1S72. She was only 12 when her mother 

died, and she became her father's housekeeper. She married William H. Bates, a 

wheelwright of Phoenix, R. I. Mr. Bates, though never ordained, frequently preaches 

in Baptist churches. Her children are Leon Howard, b. Feb. 22, 1887, and Howard 

Frank, b. Nov. 17, 1900. 

Mary E. Howard-Andrews*, [Eph.'', Hannah®, etc.], b. Oct. 6, 1844. She married 

John Francis Andrews, distantly related to her three times over, twice on the Greene side, 

and once on the La Valley-King side. (See Chapter X\TII, tlescendants of John and Antha 

Sweet.) Mary's husband died when their children were small. She was a not e woman. 

Her death, April 10, igoo, called forth this tribute : 

" We fond!y hoped that many years 
Would yet be given thee below ; 
We needed thy dear presence here, — 
How can we bear to let thee go ? 



No tears, no disappointments there, 

Where we united soon shall dwell. 
No more sad partings over there, 

O ! well beloved one, farewell 1" 

—S. E. K, 

John Francis and Mary E. Andrews have these descendants : 

Mina Gertrude Andrews-Bailey®, b. Sept. 15, 1868 ; m. William, son of Daniel 



I90 ^be (Breene jfamili? 

Lailey. She died March 22, 1901, partly, it is thought, from the effects of her long 
continued grief over her mother's death. She left Francis, born June, 18S9, Ilort- 
ense Isabel, b. Jan. 5, 1S94. 

Edward Blake Andrews', m. Nettie Shippee. They have Harold, b. April 2. 1S92, 
and Eunice M., b. Sept. 2S, 1S97. 
George Paris Howard^, [Eph.', Hannah King—Howard*, Deborah Greene-King", 
James Greene*, John of Bristol'. Lieut. James*, John Greene of Quidnessett^,] b. Nov. 21, 
1S49. He lives near Hope, R. I. He was married on his 20th birthday. Like the rest of 
tlie family, he married a cousin, Trypiiena Ho.xie Johnson, dau. of Philip and Tryphena 
Greene— Johnson. 'Jryphena was thrice descended from John Greene of Quidnessett. A 
more compiex-pedigree than hers would be hard to find. Those fond of Chinese-puzzle re- 
lationship are referred to her father Philip Johnson's line in Chapter XVIII ; her grandfather 
Hiram Greene's in Chapter XIV ; and her grandmother Abigail Johnson— Greene's in Chap- 
ter XVII. One can but pity the children of George P. and Tryphena Howard, as they try 
to make out their relationship to the rest of the tribe of Greene ! 

Mrs. Tryphena Howard died Aug. 21, 1899. She had been the mother of five chi'dren. 
Meiinda died in infancy, and Edith at 18, in 1893. Those who lived to marry were these 
Hertilla Belle Howard— Matteson", b. July 7, 1S70. Married her twice-over cousin> 
David Howard Matteson. son of Caleb and Dinah Hopkins— Matteson, this same 
chapter. They have no children. 

George H. Howard^ b. Dec. 3, 1S73, m. Mary Grace, dau. of Alfred and Sylvania 
Colvin— Whitman. They live at Hope, R. I. No children. 

Vivena W. Howard-Walker^ b. Feb. i, 1872 ; m. to Emery Walker of Robert 
and Susan Durfee- Walker. They live at Kent, R. I. They have Edith Belle, b. 
Sept. 5. 1S94, and Charles Howard, b. Nov. 4, 1896. 

BETSEY HOWARD", (of Hannah'', etc.), b. in 1811 ; d. unmarried, 
Feb. 7, 1888. 

MELINDA HOWARD^, b. May 19, 1817 ; died unmarried, Oct. 30, 1850, 
in her 34th year„ 



CHAPTER XXVin 

DESCENDANTS OF DINAH KING-HOPKINS° 

Family Trees. For descent from Alexander, Lord de Greene ae 
Boketon, A. D. 1202, and Robert the Strong, Duke de France, A. D. 861, 
see Chapter XL 

For lineage from John Greene of Ouidnessett, also from Captain 
Thomas Straight, Stukeley Westcott, Elder Obediah Holmes and Hugh Par- 
sons, see Chapter XX. 

For descent from John King, and Peter La Valley, see Chapter XXIL 



Dinah King-Hopkins'' was the seventh child and sixth daughter of 
Samuel King and Deborah Greene-King''. [Deborah'', James^, John of Bris- 
toP, Lieiit. James^, John of Ouidnessett\] She was born about 1778. Her 
husband was Christopher Hopkins, of the old R. L families of Hopkins and 
Whaley. He was the son of Ebenezer and Abigail Hopkins, and was born 
Dec. 6, 1776. 

Hopkins is a very old name. It means literally Eop]3a's kin or des- 
cendants. There were several Saxon Eoppas, princes and military leaders 
in England twelve and thirteen centuries ago. Their descendants centered 
in Wales, and the name became and is a Welsh name to this day. The R. L 
Hopkins believe themselves descended from Stephen Hopkins, a Londoner 
of W^elsh lineage, who sailed in the Mayflower in that memorial voyage of 
1620. Unfortunately, the Hopkins family rarely recorded their dates with 
the town clerk, as the law required. This leaves a single link — or possibly, 
two — between Stephen Hopkins of the ^Mayflower and the first Joseph Hop- 
kins of Rhode Island, where the name is presiimptive only. 

Stephen Hopkins' oldest son was Giles born about 1614. If he had any 
other sons who lived, they were born after 1622. Joseph Hopkins was born 
in the neighborhood of 1660. He is supposed to have been Giles' son or 
grandson, (Giles being 45 or so at that time) or else a son of an unrecorded 
younger brother of Giles.* The R.I. Hopkinses have always stood well. Hon. 

■ — ^^ 

* Stephen Hopkins, Signer of the Declaration, was the great-grandson of Thomas Hopkins, who 
came to Providence, K. I., ill 1640, it is said. Thougli tradition makes .Joseph to have been the grand- 
son of tlie Mayflower Stephen Hopkins, he may have been a son of Tiiomas of Providence instead. 

191 



192 Zbc (Brcenc family 



Stephen Hopkins, born 1707, was Chief Justice, Governor and Signer of the 
Declaration of Independence. Esek Hopkins, born 11 years later, was the 
first Commod ore of the American navy. He was put in charge of our puny 
fleet of 17 vessels in the fall of 1775. We had no national flag then. Hop- 
kins flung to the breeze a banner bearing 13 stripes ; a rattlesnake stretched 
its length across them, and beneath it were these words, — "Don't tread on 
me ! " He made that rattlesnake flag famous in its da\-. 

To return to Joseph Hopkins, grandson, as supposed, of Stephen Hop- 
kins of the Alayflower. Not far from 1695 he married INIartha Whaley, 
daughter of Regicide Judge Whaiey. Of this strain of Whaley blood thus 
brought into the family, Joseph's descendants are justly proud. It is claimed 
that the Judge was descended on the maternal side from William the Con- 
queror, and that he was also a first cousin of Oliver Cromwell's. 

Miss Lois Hopkins says that Judge Whaley died in 171 7, aged 106. 
According to this he was born in 161 1. He was one of the Regicide Judges 
who condemned Charles I to death in Jan., 1649. ^^^ ^^^y? 1660, when 
Charles II was restored to the throne, these Judges were all in danger of their 
lives. Nine wete hung, above twice that number imprisoned for life, and 
the others escaped. Four crossed the seas to America, Digsbee, Goff and 
Edward Whaley, who went to New Haven, Conn., and were hidden in the 
Regicides' Cave by sympathizers ; and this Whaley who went to R. I. His 
christian name is variously given as Thomas, Theodore and Theophilus, the 
abbreviations for which are almost similar. Miss Hopkins says positively 
that his name was Theophilus. 

With a price upon his head he lived as secluded as possible. There 
was a cave into which he retired, it is said, in times of danger. Long after- 
wards it used to be told how he had mysterious visitors, and how at one time 
a ship from Boston sailed into the cove near him, and strange men disem- 
barked and talked with him, sailing away again when he conference was 
o\-er. The Colonists did not betray him, and he finally dared to openly oc- 
cupy the home in which he died. One of the traditions handed down of 
him is that he used to say he never knew what it was until he was eighteen 
years of age not to have a servant bring him a silver ewer and a napkin 
whenever he wished to wash his hands. He w^as buried on his farm near 
Washington, R. I, This farm is yet in the possession of his descendants. 
He was 49 when he came to America. He married a Virginia lady and had 
children, one of whom was Martha, who married Joseph Hopkins. 

Joseph and Martha Hopkins had one son Judge Samuel Hopkins. He 
had a son Samuel, whose son Daniel married INIartha Matteson'', daughter of 
she who had been Martha Greene^ own aunt to Deborah Greene-King. An- 
other son of the Judge was Ebenezer Hopkins, and his son Christopher is 



Zbe 6recne ffaniil^ 193 

the one who married the Dinah King of this chapter. So the cousins, 
Daniel and Christopher Hopkins, married two cousins. Christopher and 
Dinah were married about 1797, and had these descendants: * 

HONOR HOPKINS-CARR', b. Oct. i, 1798. She m. Rev. Robert 
Carr. They moved to IlL They left several children. 

GIDEON HOPKINS', b. May 25, 1800; d. May 24, 1877. He married 
Susan", dan. of Ephraim", and Newie Briggs-Kittelle''. Ephraim's mother 
was a Greene, sister to Deborah, Gideon's grandmother, and Newie's mother 
was a King, sister to Samuel, Gideon's grandfather. So Susan was twice 
over his second cousin, and all of his line have a double strain of Greene, 
La Valley, and King blood. They had 12 children; 3 died in infancy and 2 
in early manhood, and are not enumerated. 

Perry A. IIotkins^, b. Aug. 24, 1S24. He m. Mrs. Caroline Greene, widow of 
James Greene, and daughter of Barrill Hopkins. She died Dec. 27, 1S90. 
Susan A. Hopl<ins^, b. July 10. 1S77. 
I.ois C. Hopkins'*, b. Dec. 3, 1S79. 
John W. Hopkins", b. Jan. 6, 1882. 
Dinah Hopkins-M.atteson"^, b. Feb. 15. 1S27 ; Caleb H. Matteson, and line merged 
with his. See Chapter XXVH. 

S.\RAH A. Hopkins- D.wis^, b. June 4. i323 ; m. Wm. Davis, son of Comfort Greene- 
Davis. 6 children. See Chapter XX, descendants of Jam es^, of James'', of Abel^, of James*. 
Jui.iA Hopkins-Matteson**, b. June 27, 1830 ; m. Rev. S. K. Matteson, in 1S59. No 
children. 
Charles Hopkins*. 

Phebe Hopkins-'Briggs*, b. Dec. 22. 1842 ; m. George Briggs. They have one son, 
Charles, born in 1871. 

Henry C. Hopkins^, b. March 27. 1S45. Unmarried. 

THANKFUL HOPKINS-KING', b. April 17, 1802; m. her cousin, 
David King, son of George*^, See Chapter XXX. 

EBENEZER HOPKINS', b. May 5, 1805 ;.d. Aug. 7, 1879 ; m. Julia 
IVIawney, a descendant of the early Huguenots. The name was originally 

DejMorney. 

William Hopkins®, 1844-1862. D. at 18. 

Peter Hopkins®, b. Oct. 15, 1845 ; d. Sept. 2, igoo. He m. Susan Wells. They liad 
one child, Flora, born in 1885. 

John Hopkins®, b. May 17, 1847 ; d. Oct. 23, 1900 ; m. Abbie Green. They had one 
child, Edwin Gardiner, b. 1876. 

Mary Hopkins-Potter®, b. May 5, 1S49 ; m. Willis Potter. 

Charles Hopkins®, b. May 12, 1851 ; m. in 1S81. 

Theophilus Hopkins®, b. Aug. 14, 1854 ; m. Abbie Wells. 

George Hopkins®, b. Feb. 18. 1858 ; m. Melissa Place, who died in 1900. 

DEBORAH HOPKINS-WHITFORD^ m. Elisha Whitford. Their 
sons Reuben and Joseph neither one left heirs. Elisha Jr. is married, but 
has no children. 

*For the list of descendants of Chri-stopher ami Dinah Hopkins, I am indebted to Mrs. Sara E. 
Kittelle of Anthouj-, R. I., and to Miss Lois C. Hopkins of Washington, R. I. 

U 



194 '^^c (Brcenc IFamil^ 



Elizabeth Whitford-Edwards'^, 1830--1S95. She was the wife of George Edwards. 
They had Charles, who m. Marv Cottrell and has 2 children ; Rhodes K., with 2 children ; 
and .Mary E., now Mrs. Fred. Straight, who has four children by her first husband, NVhit- 
ford Reynolds. 

Hannah F. Whitford--Pottek8. M. Pardon T. Potter. They have Stukeley, who 
m. .Vbbie Clark ; l\hodes F., who m. Evelyn Johnson and has i - child ; and Emeiine C, 
wife of John FJavis. 

-Mary Wnni-ORD-RATHBUN^, wife of Nathan Rathbun. They have Hannah F., wife 
of Edwin Nichols, and mother of Mrs. Clara Northup, Mrs. John Nicholas and Mrs. Eva 
Cajnvell ; Adeline, wife of Calvin Hopkins and mother of 4 children ; and Jerome, who m. 
Hattie Bro>vn, and has 6 children. 

HOWLAND HOPKINS^ 180S-1866. ^I. Phebe Lyon. One dangh- 
ter, Phebe C. 

EUZA HOPKINS-KNIGHT", b. Mar. 18, 1810; m. Ezra Knight of 
Foster, R. I. I have no records of their son William's family. 

Mary Knigut--Sai,isbury*', wife of Lemuel Salisbury, i son Elmer M. 
Edwin O. Knight** and wife Mary have these children living ; Susannah , Willard W., 
Hattie, and Estella. 

Ezra A. Knight*, and wife Emma have OIney, Lucinda and Eliza. 

LEWIS HOPKINS", b. Sept. 2, 1814. By first wife, Nancy A. North- 
up, had 6 children. 

Elizabeth HorKiNS-ArsTiN**. 1S36-1S67. She was the wife of James Austin. 

Maria HOiTKINs-Colvin*, b. Nov. 16, 1S37 ; m. Alfred Colvin. 

Palmer L. Hopkins^, b. Sept. 14. 1839 ; m. Rebecca Young. Pie served in the Civil 
War. Their cliildren are William and Claude. William^ is married and has 2 sons, Ray- 
mond and Clarence. 

Mary Hopkins-Brown''. 1842-1879. Wife of John Broivn. 4 children. 

DianTha Hopkins-Kenyon^, b. Feb. 5, 1S46 ; m. George Kenyon. 

A.mbrose Hopkins''. 1847--1865. Killed in front of Richmond, Va., during the Civil 
War. 

E.mmeline Hopkins-Potter^, wife of Peleg Potter. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

DAVID king's descendants 

Family Trees. For descent from Alexander, first Lord de Greene de 
Boketon, A. D. 1202, and from Robert the Strong, Duke de France, A. D. 
«6i, see Chapter XL 

For descent from Lieutenant James', of John Greene^ of Ouidnessett ; 
also from Capt. Thomas Straight of Watertown, Mass., and from Stukeley 
Westcott, Elder Obediah Holmes and Hugh Parsons, see Chapter XXH, 

For descent from John King, and Peter La Valley see Chapter XXH. 
The strain of Pierce-Lascelle-Wardwell blood is treated of in same Chapter, 
and more fully in Appendix. 



David King*' was the eighth child and second son of Samuel and De- 
borah Greene-King^ He was born March 11, 1781, and died ]\Iay 29, 1828, 
aged 41 years. He lived in West Greenwich, R. L He was married 
at about 22 to INIary Andrews, who was born Feb. 9, 1782. vShe died Sept. 
21, 1837. She was a lineal descendant of the pioneer John Andrews of 
R. L, the intimate friend of old John Greene of Quidnessett. There is a 
slight uncertainty as to one of the middle links. The line appears to 
be this: John Andrews'; Charles Sen"., Charles Jrl, Sylvester^ and ]\Liry\ 
Her father's and grandfather's line removed to Vermont, not far from 1800, 
and I have not been able to trace them further. 

David and Mary had 9 children, 6 of them sons. Singularly enough 
there is but one descendant of their's alive to-day that bears the name of King, 
and of him practically nothing is known. A childless grandson, Edgar 
Cady-, is yet living in 1904, together with his sister, Jane Cady-Nicholsl 
She, indeed, has five children, but as she married her second cousin, Fern- 
ando^ of Nelson Nichols, her line is reckoned with his. So this record of 
David King is of a large family that in a century's time have become extinct 
as a family. Most of them lived in N. Y. 

AVIS KING", b. Nov. 27, 1804. Died Aug. 30, 1877. She was well 
versed in family lore, and ought to have been a historian. 

195 



196 ^be (Brccne ffarnil)? 

GEORGE KING', b. Nov. 30, 1806. Died in 185 1. 

THOMAS A. KING'. Born March 18, 1808. Died in early part of 
1865. He was a skillful carpenter, a good man and of sound judgment. 
He removed to Indiana some years before his death. His wife was Sallie 
Andrews, so noted for eccentricities that anecdotes about her will live for 
generations. An instance is where she stood by her husband's bed in his 
last illness, and calmly remarked, — ''' I'd like to have Thomas get well, for 
he is a good provider. But if he can't live, it would be better for his family 
if he would die right away !" The frank old soul outlived her husband 
many years, dying in R. I. 

Their children were Sally Ann, b. 1837 and died in 1852 at 14; Caro- 
line E. who d. at 8 months ; Caroline E. (2) who died unmarried in Rhode 
Island ; and Eucinda, a bright, beautiful girl of 14, who died early in 1865. 

DEBORAH KING', b. Aug. 26, 1810; died in May, 1877, at her 
neice's, Jane Nichols, in N. D. She was deeply attached to her sister, Sally 
Cady, and at her death brought up her children as her own. 

SALLY KING-CADY'. B. July 29, 1812. Died Dec. 21, 1851. 
She married Simeon Cady of N. Y. There was an epidemic of typhoid 
fever in this King family, and a half a dozen of them died in the latter part 
of 1851, among them Sally, her husband, and her 10 year old daughter 
Caroline. 

David A. Cahv.^. 13. June 21, 1833. Died in the service of the Civil War, June, 
1864. 

JVlARY Jane Cadv-Nichols*. B. Aug. 17, 1836. Came with her aunt Deborah King^ 
to Indiana when a young lady. Married her second cousin, Fernando Nichols. Iler line 
is traced with his in Cliapter XL. In their old age she took care of three or four of her 
old uncles and aunts, until their death. 

Edgar George Cauv*^. Born Feb. 25, 1S38. He married his Uncle Paul's step-daughter, 
Sarah Binghom, May 18, 1S66. She died within a year, and the child to which she gave 
birth died also. He never married again. He lives with his sister, Mrs. Fernando Nichols. 

Caroline E. Cady*. B. July 31, 1841. D. Nov. 29, 185 1. 

SYLVESTER A. KING^ b. April 28, 1814; married Valeria Bewell in 
1852, but separated from his wife. One son, George, of whom the last 
known was that he was living in N. Y,, and was married but childless. 
Sylvester died at his neice's, Mrs. Nichols. 

PAUL KING^ Born April 4, 1816 ; d. 1894. He married in middle- 
life a widow, Mrs. Louise Bingham. He left no heirs. 

JOHN A. KING^ b. Oct. 20, 18 18. Never married. Died at his 
neice's, Mrs. Jane Nichols, in Feb., 1896. 

DAVID KING^ b. Aug. 3, 1820. He married Sarah T. Jewett in 1858. 
He had one daughter, Emily, who died in 1897. This entire family have 
passed away. He died in 1898. 



4 



CHAPTER XXX 

DESCENDANTS OF JOEL KING 

Family Trees. For the descent from Sir Alexander, first Lord de 
Greene de Boketon, A. D., 1202, and the descent from Robert the Strong, 
see Chapter XI. 

For their lineage from John Greene of Ouidnessett, through James 
Greene ; also their lineage from Capt. Straight, Stukeley Westcott, Elder 
Obediah Holmes and Hugh Parsons, see Chapter XX. This family have a 
double strain of all this, as they are, through Joel King's wife, descended 
from Alartha Greene, sister to James Greene. 

For their descent from John King and Peter La Valley, see Chapter 

xxn. 



Joel King" was the tenth child and fourth son of Samuel and Deborah 
Greene-King^ He was born Nov. 3, 1785, and died Dec. 12. 1867, aged 
82. He outlived his wife by thirty years. He married at 24 to his second 
cousin, P^sther ]\Iatteson, who was born June 18, 1783. Esther was a sister 
to ]\Ieribah, wife of JoePs brother George. The sisters' double INIatteson 
descent, and also their lineage from John Greene of Ouidnessett, is given in 
Chapter XXVI, pertaining to George King. 

Joel King was a favorite in his family. He was frank and generous in 
his disposition, and of a genial, sunny temperament. His wife is yet re- 
membered as one of the salt of the earth, patient, forbearing, and given to 
kind words and deeds. 

He went to N. Y. in i8o6,and lived for a few years with his sister, 
Mrs. Nancy Nichols. He went back to R. I. after his bride, but spent the 
rest of his life at Pompey, N. Y. Years after, when some of his own child- 
ren were grown, he found that the then owner of his brother-in-law's old 
place was about to plow over the grave of this sister Nancy, with whom he 
had lived. He moved the remains to his own private burying ground. 
Then from Mill Creek he chose a smooth stone, dressed it into a slab, and 
chiseled her name and the date of her birth and death thereon. It was a 



197 



19^ Zbc (Brecnc JFamil^ 

long, hard task, but it was done so well that a regular stone cutter might 
have been proud of it. This incident illustrates his loyalty and devotion to 
his friends. His descendants are these : 

HIRAM KING", b. Feb. i, i8io;d. March 30, i860. INIarried Julia 
Keeler. 

Alexander King'^, b. Aug. 6, 1845. Went into the Civil War at 17, and died tlie next 
year, Feb. 19, 1863, at Fredericlcsburg. 

Florence F. King-Searles*, b. Feb. 13, 1S57 ; m. to Cliarles Searies of New Bremen, 
N. Y. She has been a great sufferer for many years with a disease that settled in one 
limb, causing several amputations. No children. 

THOMAS MATTESON KING^ b. Aug. 27, 181 1. D. Aug. 28, 1858. 
He married his double cousin, Celia King", May, 1836. She was the daugh- 
ter of his uncle George and his aunt Meribah. They must have gone to Ohio 
at once, as a letter of 1837 speaks of them, then at Sharon Center, Ohio. 
They lived there until about 1852, when they removed to Wisconsin. 
They lost a daughter Florence when a child. 

Edwin King^ Died in tiie Ciril War. 

Tames Henry King*, b. 1837. Died in iS66 from disease contracted in the Civil War. 
Albert F. King^, b. 1S40 ; d. Sept. 14, 1SS9, after an invalidism of 14 years, the result of 
disease contracted in the army. Earlier in lite he was a teacher and farmer. About 1S69 
he married a young woman of Canadian birth, Philinda Moffit. They lived in Wisconsin 
until 18S5, then in Nebraska, and a little later in Ohio, where he dietl in '89. After he was 
unable to work his two lads worked manfully to support the family. The oldest girl died 
the year after her father, in 1890. The mother died in 1893. Clifford, the second son, 
became ill in '92, and was sick for si.x years, dying in 1898. Edna King died in 1896, after 
a long illness. 

Those were hard, bitter years for the old veteran's family. Herbert, the eldest son, kept 
the wolf from the door. When he was 21, the younger children now being in the Soldiers' 
Orphan's Home, and the widow in receipt of a pension, he was for the first time free to 
look after himself. With but $5.00 to his name, the poorly educated young man entered 
the common school, working for his board. At 25 he graduated from the High School. 
That same fall, with but $70.00 as capital, and a stout heart under his jacket, he started to 
take the full Ohio University course, including Civil Engineering. He boarded himself for 
$1.25 a week, and did odd jobs to earn his books and clothes. At 31 he received his well- 
earned degrees. 

Herbert Sumner King*, b. May 24, 1870. He is a civil engineer, and holds an 
important and responsible position in West Virginia. 
Clifford King", b. Dec. 12, 1872. D. in 1898. 
Charles E. King**, died at i year of age. 
Erwin Norton King", died at 2 years. 

Miona Atlanta King", b. Dec. 4, 1S78, and d. Dec. 24, 1890. 

Olive King", b. May 22, 1883. She graduated from both the Xenia and Urbana, 
0., High Schools by the time she was 17. She is a teacher, and is now living in 
Pittsburg, Pa. 

Edwin King", b. April i. 1888. He is living in Xenia, Ohio. 
Marcus Norton King*. ( of Thomas' and Celia, of Joel« and Esther). He is com- 
monly called Mark. He is married, and lives at Oakfield, Wisconsin. He has a daughter 
Lutheria, born about 1886. 

Frank L. KING^ youngest son of Thomas' and Celia. He lives at Grand Island, 
Nebraska. Fie has a daughter Mary, who married in 1901, and a daughter Gertrude, who 
is a traii'.cd nurse. 



^be (3rcene ffamil^ 199 

HENRY KING^ Third child of Joel and Esther King, b. April 6, 
1814, and died Sept. 12, 1S16. 

DIANA KING-KNIGHT", b. March 7, 1816 ; d. June 26, 1871. She 
married Shubal Knight and spent her life at Pompey, N. Y. They had four 
children ; Esther and Adelaide died young. Emma R. and Clifford live 
together on the old place, and have never married. The father died April 

I5> 1900- 

Diana suffered greatly for 12 years with an aggravated rheumatic 

trouble. When Clifford, a promising young man, was about 30 he was 

attacked by the same dread disease. It has now run into hip disease, with no 

hope of cure. At the close of 1903 he had had 137 operations performed 

upon his hip, to remove the accumulation of pus upon the bone. Through 

it all he remains patient and cheerful. His sister Emma is giving her life 

to him, as she did first to her mother, and then to her father. All the 

heroes are not of the battle-field, nor are all the heroines those who have 

done world-famous deeds. Emma was born June 21, 1847, ^^^^ Clifford in 

March, 1859. 

DEBORAH KING', b. May 23, 1818 ; d. Dec. 18 1829. 

CYRUS KING", b. Sept. 30, 1820 ; d. March 30, 1903. Wherever he 
lived, Cyrus King was held in the highest esteem. His life was absolutely 
clean. He had integrity, industry and ability. He died, as he would have 
chosen, in the bosom of his famih', without a moment's pain or warning. 
He left behind him a record of a man active in all good works, and generous 
in his support of worthy causes. 

March 21, 1848, he was married to Harriet, daughter of Timothy and 
Rachel Brown-Bennett. All of the Bennetts who were in N.Y. previous to 
1800, were descended from Samuel Bennett, who came to the colonies 
during the great Anti-Laud Emigration, about 1635. His son Samuel went 
to R. I., and the next generation passed on to Pa. and N. Y. They were so 
intensely a patriotic family that 25 N. Y. Bennetts served in the Revolu- 
tionary War.* Several of this line moved to Ohio in an early da>-. 

Cyrus and Harriet were married in Wadsworth, Medina Co., Ohio. He 
was a farmer and worked at the carpenter's trade. vShe lived but four years, 
dying in June, 1852. She left one son, Edmund Burritt King. 

Cyrus married again, June 4, 1854. His second wife was Climena, 
daughter of Pliny and Betsey Rhodes-Porter. The Porters were of good 
family, and she liad several heirlooms which she treasured highly. When 
a child, the author used to admire one of these. It was an antique bureau, its 
legs carved into fantastic knobs and flowers. Touch the knobs or flowers, and 
tiny concealed drawers would fly open. Mrs. King died Aug. 5th, 1897. 



* See Bennett Book, page 9- 



200 ^he (Brcene jfamil^ 



JuuGff Edmund Burritt King**, b. July 4, 1S50. lie was admitted to tlie Bar in 1S73. 
Two years after this he removed to Sandusky, Ohio, where he has ever since made iiis 
home. He is one of the leading lawyers of the state. In 1894 he was elected Judge of the 
Circuit Court Bench, a Court of Appeals and Errors. After five years service he rcbigned, 
in order to devote himself to his law practice as one of the lirm of King eK: Guerin. Ex- 
cepting while lie was Judge, he has always taken an active part in political campaigns, For 
tlie greater part of the iast thirty years he has been a member of the County or State 
Republican Central Committee, and in i333 was a Republican Elector, casting his vote for 
Benjamin Harrison as President. For 17 years he held successively the offices of Lieuten- 
ant, Captain and Major of the National Guard of the State, resigning in 1897, because 
his judicial position interfered with attending to its duties. He has also been prominent in 
the Masonic Order, belonging to all the Masonic bodies, including the 33d degree of the 
Scottish Rite, and has held most of tha positions in the subordinate and local bodies. He 
is now Grand .Standard Bearer of the Grand Commandary of Ohio. 

Burritt Is-ing married Emma E. Hackett, Feb. 24, 1S74. Of this marriage two children 
have been born, Cora King-Graves, wife of Thuddeus Graves, Jun., of Hatfield, Mass.,- 
born Nov. 16, 1875 ; and Clifford Marshall King, born Dec. 15, 1S79, ^"^d now fitting him- 
self at Cornell University for the profession of Civil Engineering. Judge King has one 
grand-child, Isabel (iraves, b. Nov. 24, 1903. 

Ida E. King-Wolcott^, born June 5, 1855 ; d. Oct. 9, 1S79. She was married Dec. 
4, 1S78, to Samuel Melford Wolcott, son of .Simon and Nancy Codding (or Coddington^ 
Wolcott, and grandson of Joseph and Lucy Hills-Wolcott. This is the same Woicolt 
family to which the two celebrated Governors-Wolcott of Conn., and Oliver Woicolt, the 
' Signer of the Declaration of Independence, belonged. His mother, Nancy Codding (ton) 

is descended from .Sir William Coddington, one of the most noted of R. I.'s early colonial 
governors. 

Ida King-Wolcott dieii leaving a 17-days old child, Winifred Ida. Her aunt, Mary 
King, took her, and has raised her in the Cyrus King home, giving her every advantage. 
She is a student of Hiram College. 

D.wid Porter King^, b. Oct. 23, 1857 ; d. Feb. 22, 1SS8. The mathematical genius 
that has again and again appeared in the family since the days of Robert Greene^^ of 
Gillingham, Eng., 350 years ago, was shown in this young man. He solved the most 
intricate problems on sight, and invented new metliods of his own. He had graduated as a 
Civil Engineer, but his health failed him. He died at 30. 

Mary Almira King^, b. Oct. 24, 1859. ^^ companion to her mother, a house-keeper 
for her father, a mother to her orphan niece, her life has been rich in deeds of love and 
duty. She lives in Medina, Ohio. 

DELILAH KING-HAIGHT', b. May 29, 1823, -ii^cl living in 1904. 

IM. to James S. Haight, Dec. 22, 1847. ^Ii'S- Haiglit is a gentle little old 

lady that all esteem. vShe was a teacher before her marriage. They came 

to Ohio in 1849, where Mr. Haight engaged in farming and the carpenter 

trade. They live with their son Clarence. 

Herbert D. Haight^, b. Nov. 29, 1S56 ; d. June 12, 1880. 

Ci..\RA Jane Haight-Brainerd^, b. Dec. 14, i860; m. George M. Brainerd, April 3, 
1S84. He is a teacher, as was his wife before her marriage, 
Edgar Preston Brainerd', b. May 8, 1S85. 
Edna Ruth Brainerd^ b. Oct. 18, 1887. 
Edwin .\lbert Brainerd', b. Jan. 28, 1893. 
Clarence I-Cing Haight*, b. Dec. 22, 1862 ; m. Gertrude May Phelps, Dec. 22, 1891. 
His birth and his wedding were each on an anniversary of his parents' marriage. His wife 
is a poet and magazine writer under the non-de-plume of Dame Durden. Since the advent 
of her children she dues not write much. As she cypresses it, 



Hbe (Brccne jfainil^ 201 



" The hand well tit, 

Finds truer work in wiping tears awa\'. 

A woman, queen o'er destinies of men, 
May find her work is not witli voice or pen ; 

To smooth the way that leads unto tlie grave, 
To train the child, and it for God to save ; 

Great things to do, and noble too, are these. 
The petty trials, the efforts vain to please. 

The upward strife, the failures too. 
That vex the heart e'en though 'tis true ; 

These all serve, and well He will repay* 



Clarence and Gertrude's children are these : 

Howard I'helps llaight^, b. May 30, 1S96. 
Derwin DeForest Haight', b. Feb. 11, iSgS. 
Helen Amanda Haight', b. Dec. 2S, 1903. 
Clarence Haight died early in 1904, aged 42. 

ALMIRA KING-BUTTS^ b. Nov. 25, 1825 ; d. May 14, 1875. She 
married Homer Butts, April 3, 1849. They had no children. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

DESCENDANTS OF STEPHEN KING 

Family Trees. For descent from Lord Alexander de Greene de Boke- 
ton, A. D. 1 202, and descent from Robert the Strong, Dnke de France, A. 
D. 861, see Cliapter XL 

For lineage from John Greene of Qnidnessett ; also from Stukeley West- 
cott, Elder Obediah Holmes, Hngh Parsons, and Capt. Thomas Straight, see 
Cliapter XX. 

For King and La Valley descent, see Chapter XXII. For the middle- 
ages history of the Mattesons, see Appendix. 



Stephen King*^ was the eleventh and yonngest child, and fifth son of 
Samuel and Deborah Greene-Kingl He was born May 8, 1787, and died 
July 8, 1867, aged 80 years. He was married at 22 to Lydia Matteson. 
Her lineage on her father's side was this : Henry jMatteson\ the Emigrant, 
Capt. Henry-, Ebenezer^, Edmund^ and Lydia\ On her mother's side she 
was of this descent: John Green' of Qnidnessett, Lieut. Jas^., John of 
BristoP, James*, Benjamin'', and Virtue Greene'', second wife of Edmund 
Matteson. As Stephen King was also a great-grandson of Jas. Greene^, he 
and Lydia's mother were own cousins. He outlived his wife some 18 years. 

Stephen King purchased the old Magdalen King place at West Green- 
wich. Here was where both he and his father were born. He had a world 
of trouble getting the title to it. The farm had "belonged" to Samuel, the 
youngest son of ^lagdalen, Stephen's father. But it seems to have been 
by a tacit agreement all around, and not by deeds. Stephen naturally 
wished a clear title. But the children of Magdalen were dead, and the grand- 
children and great-grand-children were scattered over R. I., N. Y., Ohio and 
Ind. He commissioned his nephew, Joel Howard, to hunt up the distant 
heirs and get their signatures. I have before me a letter of Howard's 
reporting his progress. It is yellowed with time, and bears a seal, as that 
was before the days of envelopes and postage stamps. The letter bears 
date of Aug. 13, 1838. 

His letter throws a light on their trust in each other, and the care- 
ful economy of those days. " I want to know if uncle Stephen will Accept 

203 



Zbc 6vccnc ffantil^ 203 

the Deed without it. [Heirs' signatures.] It is not Convenient to take acknow- 
ledgements of Henr\- Kiu"- and his wife, and Richmond Nichols and wife. 
It is agoing to be Considerable of trouble and 75 Cents Cost, but it Cannot 
be Done in York state by a Justice of the Peace. They firmly Declare to 
me that they will never trouble Him if he will Accept the Deed without it. 
I have the acknowledgement of 14, which Covers nearly all the blank paper 
there is on the Deed. If he will excuse us from taking any more, I will 
insure him as safe as though it was Done." 

"Joel Howard." 

In the above letter, Uie J in Joel had three mighty circles in the flourish 
of its tail. The H in Howard began with two large and two small convolu- 
tions, and the final d of Howard wound up with a string of lo-loop flourishes, 
which, with the many capitals, .show that letter wTiting has its fashions,* as 
well as other things. ■ 

Soon after this, Stephen sold the farm and mo\'ed to Pennsylvania, ar- 
riving there Jan. 2, 1S40. The historic old house, while vacant, w^as in 
some wav set fire to hv a drunken man. Onlv the cellar and a few founda- 
tion stones are left to mark the home where Huguenot Magdalen King, and 
his wife ]\Iarie La \'alley~King, breathed their last. The farm, once under 
good cultivation, is now overgrown by scrub oaks and pitch pine. It is in 
the hands of those who value it only for its quarr\' of rocks, and work that 
alone. It is a typical abandoned New England farm. The last Thursday 
in August each year, Alagdalen's descendants meet at Indian Rocks and 
feast together ; and once a \ear these same people put in a day's work on 
the old family cemetery. 

Stephen and his wife had eight children, two of whom died young. 
Two never married, and one left no issue. Nearly all his descendants live 
in Pa. Roger William King, a grandson, says, " None of this family have 
been famous or wealthy, but they have had the respect of their associates 
wherever they have been." They are a deeply religious family, nearly all 
Baptists, and ha\'e a general reputation for truth, honesty, and mathematical 
proficiency. 

SAMUEL KING', [of Stephen'' of Deborah Greene-King-', James 
Greene^ John of Bristol', Lieut. James^, John Greene^ of Quidnessett.] He 
was born March 6, 1810. He was married 7 years before they left R. I. to 
Mary F. Wood, May 12, 1833. He died April i, 1862. 

LucETTA KiNG^, b. April 22, 1834; d. Jan. i"^, 1873, aged 39 years. 
N. W. KiXG^, b. April 28, 1843. He served in the Civil War, in the 46th Pa. 
Volunteers. Jan. 2. 1866, he married Nancy A. Baker. He is a contractor and builder 
on a large scale, taking contracts sometimes for 50 houses at a time. 
Viola King-Avery', b. in 1868. Wife of Oliver Avery. 
Carrie King-Harvey', b. March 22, 1870. Wife of John Harvey. She has a son. 



204 ^i5c 6rcene 3fainU\> 

Etta King—Egau*, b. .March lo, 1S72 , m. John Egan. They have 3 children, 
and live in Broolclyn, N. Y. 

Walter H. King^ b. Aug. 27, 1875 ; m. and lives in Brooklyn. No children. 
James W. King*. A twin, b. April iS, 1845. Died July 19, 1901. He m. Harriet E. 
McLaud, Dec. 24, 1870. Eight children, seven survive him. 

JoH.v ,S. King'^. Twin of the above. M. to Mattie A. McLaud. Nov. g, 1872. They 
have 4 children, one of whom is dead. 

Anna King-Whipple*. b. Dec. 26, 1850. Married James Whipple, March 26, 1SS9. 
They live at Silvara, Pa., and have one son, Earl J., b. Oct. 12, 1S95. 

WILLIAM KING', b. in June, 1811 ; married Harriet Dexter in 1859. 
He died Dec. 6, 1891. No children. 

RAY KING', born Dec. 9, 1815. Died March 22, 1894. He was never 
married. He will be long remembered. For 60 }-ears he was acknowledged 
as the best posted man on family lore in the King ranks. He was eccen- 
tric, peculiar in his dress, and plumped so abruptly into the subject in which 
he was interested that strangers would at first doubt his sanity. But he was 
shrewd enough, and never forget a date, or name, or incident. He would 
start on foot on one of his genealogy-tours, and would perhaps journey a 
1,000 miles before he came walkinof back to his Pennsvlvania home. He 
would be at Tully, N. Y., one day ; tarry three hours at another place ; stay 
with a cousin over night at Bromley ; another night at Pompey ; then shake 
the dust of N. Y. off his feet, and proceed in the same way to R. I. Where- 
ver he went, he woke the kindred up on genealogical matters, and told them 
more in an hour than they had known in a life-time before. It is a thous- 
and pities that a man so A'ersed in family history, and ■ with such a pictur- 
esque, succinct style of putting his knowledge, never put it down in black 
and white. 

DEBORAH KING-BUNNELL', b. July 23, 1817. Married Edward 
Bunnell. No children. She d. in April 1882. 

STUKELEY KING", [Stephen", Deborah Greene-King\ James Green^ 
John of Bristol'^ Lieut. James", John^ of Quidnessett.] Born July 18, 1824. 
Died March 25, 1891. He married Fidelia Fish, Jan. 9, 1855. They were 
deeply religious people, Baptists, as were most of the Stephen King line. 

Charles King*. I)ied while youmg. 

Roger William King*, b. Feb. 4, 1S59. He is unmarried. 

.A.MY L. KiNG--STURDEVANr*, b. Aug. 3, 1S61 ; m. Oct. 3. 1S83, to Willis E. Sturde- 
vant. Arva and Veva are dead. These children are living : Alma, b. 1887 ; Clark, in 
1889 ; Carrie, in 1891 ; Webb, in 1893 ; and Sarah, in 1S97. The Sturdevants live in 
Silvary, Pa. 

Caroline E. King-Schmidt*, b. Dec. 26, 1865. Shemairied C. Schmidt of Empor- 
ium, Pa., who died March 2, 1904. She has no children. 

Mary Delphene King— Place^, b. Jan. 15. 1870; m. July 2. 1S91, to Chas. A. Place, 
and died Dec. 25, 1901, leaving Claude, b. 1892, and Leah, b. 1900. 

Susie Jane King— Lanie^. Born Oct. 26, 1872. She was married March g, 1904, to 
Clark I,anie of Rush, Pa. 

CAROLINE KING^ Born 1834. Died .single in 1862, aged 28. 



i 



CHAPTER XXXn 

FAMILY OF DAVID" AND NA^XY KIXG-NICHOLS® 

As the next eight chapters are really an elaboration of this one, it 
is thought best to give at the beginning a full pedigree of this famih^ 
for convenience in consulting. Both husband and wife were descended from 
John Greene of Ouidnessett, he through Lieut. Jolm^, and she through Lieut. 
James'. Both of them were descended from Marie La Valley and Magada- 
len King, he from their daughter Susan, she from their son Samuel. On his 
side comes the Lascelle, Wardwell, Waite, Hill, and Nichols descent. On 
hers comes the Straight, Westcott, Parson and Holmes descent, as well as a 
Lascelle, Wardwell, Waite and Hill descent also. 

John Greene of Ouidnessett had nearly eight centuries of certified noble 
and royal blood behind him. There are lords, dukes, counts and kings 
enough in his line to enthuse any title-hunter. It is a good line too. Noth- 
ing to be ashamed of. Chapters IH and V give this in full. Chapter XI 
sums it up, and shows their relation to John of Ouidnessett, the stemmfader 
Green of this book. 

Line of Lieut. John Greene"'. The emigrant, John Greene of 
Ouidnessett^ ( Wickford, ) R. I., and Joan Beggarly; Lieut. John'^ whose 
wife was Abigail Wardwell ; "Wealthy JohnV' aud wife Ann Hill; Ann 
Greene^ who married John Nichols^; Job Nichols\ whose wife was Susan 
King, and David'', their son. 

LascellE-Wardwell Line. William WardwelP, believed to be the 
son of Richard and IMary Ithell-Wardwell, married IMeribe, daughter of 
the French Huguenots, Gershom and Meribe Lascelle. Their son, Lascelle 
WardwelP, whose name was corrupted into Usal ; William*, his son, who 

came to America in 1634 and married Alice ; Usal', born April 7, 

1639, and married May 3, 1664, to the widow I\Iary Kinsman-Ringe ; Abi- 
gail'', their oldest child, born Oct. 27, 1665. She married Lieut. John 
Greene. Her line merged with his, running thus, John, Ann, Job, David, 
the loth generation from Richard Wardwell and from Gershom LascUe. 

Waite and Hill Line. Same as the above, to W'illiam Wardwell^ 

205 



2o6 ^be (Brccnc jfainil^ 

and his wife Meribe. Their daughter Rosanna'' married Waite. 

Mehitable Waite' married Richard Hill of Great Torringtoii, England. They 
came with grown children to the colonies. John Hill', born 1613, and wife 
Frances had Jonathan", born about 1638. His oldest son was Henry HilT, 
born Jan. 27, 1661. His daughter was Ann\ who married " Wealthy John" 
Greened David was the nth generation from Gershom Lascelle and Rich- 
ard Wardweli, by this line. 

Hiix-Westcott Link. (Wife's Side.) As above to ]Mehitable Waite 
HilP, then Rosanna Hill', (named after her mother's mother), who married 
Stukeley Westcott and followed Roger Williams to R. I. in 1636. ( Stuke- 
ley Westcott's father, Richard Westcott of Great Torrington, England, m, 
Mary Parson in 161 3.) 

Stukelev and wife's oldest son was Amos'", whose second wdfe was De- 
borah Stafford, vvhom hem. in 1670. Their daughter Rosanna, widow of 
Daniel Smith, married John Straight in 1705. The vStraight-^' oldest daugh- 
ter, Elizabeth', married James Greene^ the son of John Greene of Bristol. 
Nancy King-Nicholas was loth in descent by tliis reckoning from the first 
Lascelle and Wardweli, and 7th from the first Westcott and Hill. 

Line of Lieut. James Greene". ( Wife's side.) John Greene' of 
Quidnessett and Joan ; Lieut. James^ and Elizabeth ; John'' of Bristol, and 
Elizabeth Holmes ; James' and Elizabeth Straight. Deborah Greene-King" 
and Samuel King, Nancy King-Nichols^ was their child. 

Parsons AND Holmes Line. ( Wife's side.) John Greene of Bristol's 
wife Elizabeth was the grand-daughter of Elder Obediah Holmes who w^as 
so severely punished for his religious opinions. See Chapter \T. Her 
mother was Matilda (?) daughter of Hugh Parsons and his wife, formerly the 
widow of William English. Elizabeth Holmes-Greene was the mother of 
James Greene*, the grandfather of Nancy King-Nichols. Elizabeth's rela- 
tionship to Parsons and Holmes is not shown by official records, but rests 
upon family traditions and strong circumstantial evidence. 

Straight Line. ( Wife's side. ) Capt. Thomas Straight' of- Water- 
town, ]\Iass., by his first wife ]\Iary, daughter of Joseph and ]\Iary Long, had 
Henry", born 1652. Pie came to R. L and married Hannah Tolman. Their 
son John^ married Rosanna Westcott-rSmith, and the latter couple's daugh- 
ter, Elizabeth Straight Greene*, was grandmother to Nancy King-Nichols, 
6th in descent from Capt. Straight 

King and La Valley Line. Gershom' and ]\Ieribe, his wife ; An- 

teres Lascelle-Pierce- ; her daughter who married aKing^ ; their son *, 

who died of the Plague, 1665 ; John King'* the Buccaneer, born 1654 ; Mag- 
dalen King who married ]\Iarie La Valley. Their son Samuel was Nancy's 
father, their daughter Susan, David's mother. Marie was the daughter of 



^be 6reene ffamil^ 207 

Peter and Suzanne La Valley. See Chapter XXII, for the old La Valley 
history. 

Nichols Line. See Appendix and Ann Greene-Nichols section of 
Chapter XV. John Nichols^ of Glamorganshire, Wales, died 1598 ; John the 
j\Iariner'', and his wife Ruth ; Thomas" ( probabh-) ; Hon. Thomas Nichols*, 
the Emigrant, and his wife Hannah Griffin ; "Aristocratic John'','' b. 1666, 
and wife Hannah Forman ; John'\ b. 16S9 ; John^ and wife Ann Greene' ; 
Job"* and Avife Suzanne King ; David'' and wife Nancy King. 

To most j^eople this will be a dry list. lUit •there is at least this com- 
pensation about it : The children of David and Nancy Nichols start o'vit 
with 72 accredited and mentioned by name grand-parents of various degrees ; 
this exclusive of the eight centuries of ancestors back of John Greene of 
Ouidnessett 

Nancy King was born Dec. 2, 1767. She was the oldest child of Sam- 
uel and Deborah Greene-King. Her chapter is given last because of the 
several chapters following it. 

Nancy was not beautiful. vShe was naturalh' quiet and still-tongued, 
though a good talker on subjects in which she was interested. She was a 
placid, sweet-tempered woman of endless patience and forbearance. Her 
life was a sad one, because repressed and curtailed of what it should and 
would have been but for the absurd prejudice of her day. 

Nancy King came nearer being a genius than any other one of the 
entire Ouidnessett line. She had a strong brain. She was one of those 
mathematical prodigies whose mind grasps on the instant solutions of the 
most intricate problems, and she had a remarkable historical bent of mind. 
Nowadays she would have been a scientist or historian. 

Our fore-parents had woman's sphere mapped out. She was to keep 
house and rear a large family of children. Never, never, was she to be- 
come a student, or above all, a writer. That would unsex her entirel}-. It 
may not be true that so strict were their ideas of propriety that a New En- 
gland maiden fainted at the mention of undressed lumber, but it certainly 
Vs-as true that it was considered masculine, and therefore immodest, for a 
woman to write for publication. A friend of a poetess of that day, inserted 
without her knowledge one of her poems in a Boston paper. The lady 
expressed herself as so mortified that she could " hardl5dook anyone in the 
face." j\Iary vSomerville was a model housewife. Yet because she engaged 
in scientific studies, a sister used this severe language so late as 181 2 :" I 
hope you will give up your foolish manner of life and studies, and make a 
respectable and useful wife." 

Samuel King and his wife emphatically sat down on their daughter's 
ambition. Her husband shared their views. She was not allowed to study 



2o8 ^be (Breene family 

mathematics, or to write anything beyond family letters. She was too sweet 
and tractable to resist. To the day of her death it was a common thing for 
puzzled neighbors to come to. her to find out what a cistern would hold, how 
much stone it would take to build a house, or to know the number of acres 
in an irregular or odd-shaped tract of land. Baffled in her literary desires, 
she diligently searched out her family history anyway, interviewing old 
people who could remember back before 1 700. She wove a verbal narration 
of this that is said to have been most interesting. The fragments that have 
come down to us show much care on her part. I have never found one of 
her statements that could not be verified. 

This was the bright, cheerful girl with whom David Nichols fell in love 
when he visited her uncle's family after the Revolutionary War was over, 
David was quick-brained himself. He was good-looking, and had the stamp 
and breeding of a city man. He was a good conversationalist, and o^■er- 
fiowed with wit and mirth. He had the prestige of having been a Revolu- 
tionary soldier.* He was a fine singer, and an expert violinist. He w^as in- 
dustrious, and a man of sound morals and principals. He was the son of 
Job and Susan King-Nichols, born in 1763, and had been brought up in 
Providence, R. I. 

Nancv married him about 1787. She thought she was doing well. So 
did her parents. She had the French love of finery, and her wedding outfit 
was extravagant for a farmer's daughter. It was half a dozen years before 
the first cotton cloth was woven in R. I. A fine piece of cotton was then 
esteemed as much as silk. Her wedding dress was purchased in Providence. 
It was imported from England and cost $1.00 per yard, equal to about $3.00 
at present money values. It was piece of fine chintz, thick and hand-woven. 
The creamy background was sprinkled with sprays of tiny pink flowers. 
Cotton goods like this can now be obtained for about 25 cents per yard. 

But the auspicious marriage did not turn out so well. David could 
neither make money nor keep it. He was a fine workman, a deft hand at 
cabinet making, one of the half dozen men in the United States that alone at 
that time knew how to make a violin. But he could not turn his gifts to 



*It is well known in the family tlmtlie eniist'-'il twioe during the? years' war- Tlie first time he\vasonly 
in liis 16th year when lie enUsted. He served this time as a bugle r.in the same regiment in which were a doz- 
en or more of his Greene cousins. The second time he served in tlie ranks, and the first lock musket that he 
carried he gave as a memento to his youngest son. Nelson Nichols, tlie autiior's father. Rhode Island's 
military records are too incomplete to throw any light on liis second service. Tfie former is a matter of 
record, as this will show : 

"Record and Pension Office, War Department, Washington, D, C. 
" Record No. 658329. '" July 1, l9oi. 

" It is shown by the records that one David Nichols served as a private in Captain Philip TrafTarn's 
eompanyof Col. John Tophan's regiment, R. I. State Troops, Revolutionary War. He enlisted June U. 
1778. and his name appears on rolls of that organization from July, 1778, to February, 1779. without remark. 

"By authority of the Secretary of War." 



^be Greene Ifaiiul^ 209 

advantage. He spoiled a first-class artisan to become a third-rate farmer. 
He could not plan. His family increased. He shifted from pillar to post, 
alwavs in hard lines, never in easy circumstances. 

David was buo}'ant and overflowing with life and hope, when he was 
wearing his rose-colored spectacles. But when the pendulum swung the 
other way he was morose, down-hearted and moody. He was never well, 
and subject to attacks of heart trouble and nervous prostration, at which 
times he was irritable and notional. It fretted and galled him that men with 
out half his talent succeeded in life, while he was a failure. Poor, patient 
Nancy put up with all his humors, took the brunt of everything, worked 
like a slave for her dozen children, and never scolded or fretted. No wonder 
that her children thought her an angel. When she was young she had a 
physique that should have carried her to 90. She died Nov. 22, 1820, aged 
53 — worn literally out. 

They seem for a short period to have lived in R. I. I^y lived most- 
ly, however, among the Berkshire Hills of ]\Iassachussetts, until near the 
close of 1800. N. Y. was at that time offering great inducements to settlers 
in the northern part of her territory, in what were called the military districts. 
David caught the emigration fever. In the spring of 1801 they moved to 
Pompey Hill, N. Y., the highest point of land in the State, bitter cold in 
winter, and yet possessing many advantages. Here they lived, and here 
Nancy died. Her tombstone, cut and lettered by her brother Joel's hands, 
now lies prone and broken. But it can yet be deciphered where " Anna 
Nichols died, Nov. 22, 1820." Anna was really her name, but as she was 
always called Nancy, I have retained it always in speaking of her. 

David Nichols married again. The last wife was ]\Irs. Abigail Brown. 
By her he had a daughter, Betsey. Becoming dissatisfied with N. Y., in 
183 1 he removed to Sharon Center, Ohio. Here he died and was buried. 
He died Nov. 5, 1839, aged 76 years. 

David and Nancy had 12 children. There is a little uncertainty a.5 to 
where the first George and Almira came in. I follow the judgment of those 
best qualified to place them. Nine children lived to grow up, and eight to 
marry. As the eight have their lives given in the next eight chapters, only 
their birth and death dates will be given here. 

SUSAN NICHOLS", b. about 1788. Accidentally smothered iu bed 
when six weeks old. 

HENRY NICHOLS", b. Nov. 22, 1790. Died April 21, 1851. 

JOHN NICHOLS^ b. in 1792. He never married. He died Dec. 
27, 1865. He was a fifer in the War of 1812. He was so frank and jovial 
as to be a great favorite with both officers and men. He was under Col. 
Scott, afterward General Wiufield Scott. They were stationed for a time in 

13 



210 Zbc (Brcene Jfamil^ 

Canada. John used to delight in telling anecdotes of this period. All the 
Nichols have a tooth for cream. The soldier boys were foraging one time, 
when John could not resist slipping into a milk house, and helping himself 
to cream. He was busy poking the cream into his mouth, when the mistress 
of the house appeared, and the way she spluttered was a caution ! On an- 
other occasion his mess helped themselves to a Tory farmer's honey. He 
came the next morning, and raised so a great a kick that Col. Scott went 
with him to find the secreted honey. When they came into the part of the 
log barrack where Nichols' mess was, Col. Scott opened a sort of a cupboard, 
and as luck would have it, awkwardly jabbed his hand right into the honey. 
Fifer Nichols was a personal friend of his, and Scott was not minded to 
make an example of him. Slamming the cupboard door to he whipped out 
a handkerchief and began to wipe his hand. 

" What do you mean, you !" thundered Scot, apparently 

in a great rage. " Keeping your soft soap in with your victuals ! 

, I've a mind to send you to thar guard-house for it ! Don't 

you let it occur again." The Tory did not find his honey, but Scott had 
plenty of it for his dinner. 

John Nichols was a noble man in every sense of the word. Upon her 
death-bed his mother charged him to always look after his father, and gave 
her 8-year old Nelson to him. He had thought of marrying a young woman 
with whom he was in love. He resolutely turned his back on all this, 
raised his little brother, and staved with his father duringr the old srentle- 
man's life time. Then he cared for his stepmother and half-sister, until the 
latter married and left him. He spent the last 35 years of his life in Sharon 
Center, Ohio. He was always called Squire Nichols. He was a fine 
business man, and the soul of honor. 

RICHMOND NICHOLS^ b. Dec. 3, 1795; died Feb. 9, 1882. 

CYNTHIA NICHOLS'-KINC/, b. March 4, 1796; died after 1870. 

GEORGE NICHOLS' (i). Died in infancy. 

MIRANDA NICHOLS-BARNES', b. Dec. 16, 1799; d. Jan. 7, 1852. 

MARIAM NICHOLS-BRADLEY', b. Jan. 26, 1801 ; d. July 24, 1871. 

SALLY NICHOLS-LAMSON", b. Feb. 13, 1804; d. May 20, 1879. 

AL:MYRA NICHOLS". Died in early childhood. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON NICHOLS' (2), b. about 1809 ; d. :March 
21, 1839. 

NELSON NICHOLS^ b. May 11, 1812 ; d. Feb. 4, 1865. 

By his second wife David Nichols had a daughter Betsey. She married 
a Mr. Breck. Both are dead long ago. She left at least two sons, Dr. Ira 
Breck, and Dell Breck, of Cleveland, Ohio. 



CHAPTER XXXm 

DESCENDANTS OF HENRY NICHOLS" 

Family Trees. For descent from the first Lord de Greene de Boke- 
ton, A. D. 1 202, and descent from the royal Capet line of France, from A, 
D. 861, see Chapter XL For lineage from John King and Peter La Valley, 
see Chapter XXIL For all other lines of descent, including two from John 
Greene^ of Quidnessett, and lineage from Capt. Straight, Stnkeley West- 
cott, Hugh Parsons, etc., and from the Lascelles, Waites, Hills and Wardwells, 
see Chapter XX XH, and also tlie Appendix. 



Henry Nichols was the second child of David and Nancy Nichols, an 
infant sister dying before his birth. He was born Nov. 22, 1790, in Berk- 
shire Countv, Massachusetts. When he was 1 1 vears old his father moved 
to Pompey, N. Y., then a new country. He lived here until 1834, and then 
at 44, started out once more to live in a new country. He came to what is now 
Wolcottville, Indiana, when no other white man was living in the town- 
ship, although his brother, Nelson Nicholas, and brother-in-law, Peter Lam- 
son, had entered land, and came there to live shortly afterwards. He li\-ed 
in Indiana from this time until hisdeath, April 21, 1851, nearly 17 years after. 

The oldest of a poor man's large family, and twice a pioneer in a new 
country, it goes without saying that he was used to hard work, hard times 
and hard lines in life. He never let it worry him. He had an odd habit, 
if much fatigued, of lying flat down on his back and sticking his legs 
straight up in the air. Then he would sing to the top of his voice, and by 
the time his song was over he was rested and ready to go to work again. 
He cut short his honeymoon to enlist in the War of 1812-14, and as he used 
to say, never saw a battle or a scratch, as peace was declared three months 
after. 

Henry was married July 10, 1S14, to Eleanor Lord. She was born in 

. Deerfield, N. Y., Dec. 23, 1794. She was lineally descended from Thomas 

Lord, of Braintree, England, who was a noted man in his day, and helped 

to found the city of Hartford, Conn., in 1635. Hartford has erected a monu- 

211 



212 ^be (3reene yamil^ 

ment, a massive sandstone structure, to the honor of her founders, of whom 
Thomas Lord is named as one. Eleanor's father was killed by the Indians 
in iSoi, when she was but 7 years old. The little orphan fell into cruel 
hands. To the day of her death she carried deep scars that marked the in- 
human beatings and the knocking down with clubs that she had experi- 
enced. She was not sent to school, but picked up a knowledge of how to 
read. 

Twenty years Henry and Eleanor lived in N. Y., and here 8 of their 
children were born ; 2 more were born in Indiana. These children were Al- 
myra, Ira, Nancy, Deborah, Halsey, Sally, Rachel, George, Margaret and 
John. There was not a break in this family until 1839, then in a year's 
time 4 died. Alniyra died of consumption at 23, dying Jan. 26. 1839 or 1840 
(both dates given). Nancy, the 19 year old daughter, died Feb. 5, 1839. 
The mother took a fatal cold standing by the grave in chill weather. She 
took pneumonia, and one week later, Feb. 12, 1839, she died also. John, 
the baby, died the next October. 

The family had begun to thin out. In 1853, Sally died, aged 19. The 
lather died in 1851, and Halsey, a young man of 27, died in 1852. Margaret 
died, March 27, 1864, Ira in 1865, Deborah died May 25, 1894, and George 
died Feb. 2, 1901, Rachel alone of all this family is yet living, in 1904. 
The old place passed into other hands after Henry's death in 1851. He had 
married again, nearly eight years after his first wife's death. He had no 
children by Polly — the last wife. 

ALMYRA NICHOLS^ b. Sept. 18, 1816; d. Jan. 30, 1839. She died un- 
married, as did her aunt and great aunt, and her cousin, all of whom were 
Almyra Nichols, and all under 25 at time of death. It became almost a su- 
perstition in the family after that, that no Almyra Nichols would live to see 
a quarter of a century. 

IRA VAN RENvSEALLER NICHOLS', b. Jan 21, 1818. He was mar- 
ried Dec. II, 1 84 1, to Nancy INIatteson, or Nancy Munger, as she was often call- 
ed, having been brought up in the INIunger household. She was a quiet, good 
woman. She died early in 1865. Her husband enlisted after her death, 
and was soon one of the many victims of the Civil War. They left 5 child- 
ren, only one of whom was married. 

Lucy Nichols-Chaffee^, married and went out West. ^ Had a daughter, and a son Al- 
vin, born about i86r. She died not far from ths time her parents did. 

Albert Nichols^. lie married a Miss Dickinson, a diu<^hter of Barrett Dickinson, of 
Wolcottville, Indiana. He is a fanner, and lives at South Milford, Indiana. His children 
are Elsie, Glen and Vernon. 

Fulton Nichols'. He fives at Wolcottville, Indiana. He has buried three children, 
and has two IlVmg. Mabel is married, and lives in Kendallville, Indiana. She has a son. 
Fulton's youngest daughter is Pearlie. 

Annabklle Nichols-Nichols^. Extremely modest and retiring, she was yet one of the 



^be 6rcene Jfamtli? 213 



sweetest girls the author ever knew. She was always as frail as a wildwood flower, She 
married William Nichols, no relation of hers, and had three children, Earl, b. about 1885, 
Aha, b. about 1S87, and Trim (Ira?) b. about 1896. She died of consumption in April, 1901. 
Dr. Henry A. Nichols^ He was only 4 years old when his parents died. He was 
taken by Mr. and Mrs. Ira Meeker, of Wolcottville, Indiana. They were dear, good old 
people, who were real parents to the homeless boy. He owes much of his success to them. 
Henry became a physician, and has a large practice. He lives in Flint, Indiana. He was 
married in 1897 to Flora Benninghoof. They have no children. 

NANCY NICHOLS^ b. July 2, 1820; d. Feb. 5, 1839. 

DEBORAH NICHOLS-ABBOTT^ b. Jan. i, 1823. Died after 1890. 
Deborah was one of those patient, gentle, domestic women that the world never 
half appreciates, because they blow no trumpet over their deeds. She mar- 
ried the Rev. Daniel Abbott, in 1856, and moved out West. She died at 
the home of her daughter, Ella i\bbott Parker, May 25, 1894, a year after her 
husband's death. 

Ella Abbott-Parker^ was the oldest child of Rev. and Mrs. Abbott. Ambitious, 
resolute and independent, she was no more like her meek, never-speak-for-herself mother 
than as though a thousand generations rolled between them. Born in a new country, she 
breathed in her native air with a sense of freedom and a breadth of soul. Her father had an 
old-time distrust of learned women. But repression could not repress as dauntless a soul as 
Ella Abbott's. She studied, she taught, though she had to begin her first school in short 
dresses. At sixteen she ran away, so determined was she to go to school. She 
came looo miles alone to her aunt Rachel's. Here she was encouraged, anc; given the ad- 
vantage of superior schools. Won over by her pluck, her father invited her back, and con- 
cluded it was a fine thing to have a scholarly daughter after all. 

Aug. 16, 1S83, Ella was married to W. H. Parker, of Long Island, Kansas. Together 
they have faced hard years, dry years, and no-crop years. Neither of them ever gave up. 
To-day they have a fine farm of over 400 acres, and all the comforts of life. They have 
had seven children. Carrie Pearl, their oldest child, died Oct. 9 1SS4, aged 7 weeks. Their 
living children are Ray K., b. Oct. 24, 18S5, Hattie Mabel, b. Feb. 7, 1890, Henry Jay, 
b. Nov. 3, 1S91, Lou Abbott, b. April 16, 1893, Ina Evelyn, b. Feb. 14, 1899, and Ira 
Theodore, b. Oct. 15, 1900. These children are chips of the old block. Mabel graduated 
from her home school at 3 months past 12, the youngest graduate ever in the country. Ray, 
the oldest son, who intends to be an engineer, was up with his studies to enter such a course 
when he lacked two full years of being old enough to enter any engineering school. 

George Abbott^, married Hattie Parker, a sister of Ella's husband. She was a most 
worthy woman. She died in March, 1900, leaving 4 children, Clyde, Clair, Una and Uee. 
George ALibott is a farmer on a large scale, owning 640 acres of land not far from his sister's 
home. 

HASLEY NICHOLS^ b. Aug. 23, 1825 ; c^- J^^ie 17, 1852. 

SALLY NICHOLS^ b. Sept. 23, 1824 ; d. March 27, 1843. 

RACHEL NICHOLS-BOOSINGER-HODGES\ b. Aug. 28, 1830. After 
her father's death Rachel lived with her uncle Nelson until her marriage 
with Conrad Boosinger, Oct. i, 1858. She has lived ever since in Rome 
City, Indiana. Mr. Boosinger died in 1870. Afterwards his widow married 
Nelson P. Hodges, and is again a widow. Rachel Hodges has given me 
almost all the dates and facts in this letter. She has never had any children 
of her own, but she has been almost a motlier to her orphan nephews and 



214 ^^e (5rccne ffamili? 



nieces. She raised one of these, Ida Kesler, and this niece and hnsband 
live with her. 

GEORGE NELSON NICHOLS^ b. June 30, 1833; d. Feb. 2, 1901, 
went west when a young man. He was married in Iowa to Sarah Baxter, 
June, 1855. He died in Nebraska. The}- had two children, Nellie, mar- 
ried and living in Hardin, Nebraska, and William in another part of Nebras- 
ka. He has three sons, Charles, Paul and Fred. His sister Nellie is the 
mother of six children. 

MARGARET NICHOES-KESLERl She was the ninth child and 
the first one born in Indiana. She married William Kesler at Rome Citv, 
Ind., in May, 1858. She died April 21, 1864. 

Henry Kesler'. Joined the regular army, 1882. Went to Fort Gibson, Arizona. 
Never heard from ajjain. 

Ida Kesi.er-Tice^. She was brought up by her aunt Rachel, and has never been sep- 
arated from her. Her husband is William Tice of Rome City. They have no children. 

JOHN NICHOLS^ b. Oct. 26, 1838, and d. Oct. 6, 1839. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

DESCENDANTS OF RICHMOND NICHOU> 

Richmond Nichols^, of Nancy King-Nichols'^, Deborah Greene-King'"', 
James Greene*, John Greene', of Bristol, Lient. James Greene" and John 
Greene^ of Quidnessett. 

Family Trees. For English pedigree, with descent from the first 
Lord de Greene de Boketon, A. D. 1202, and descent from the royal Capet 
line of France, A. D. 861, see Chapter III and XL For lineage from Capt. 
Thomas Straight, Stnkeley Westcott, Hngh Parsons and Elder Obediah 
Holmes ; together with the Quidnessett Greene descent on his father's side ; 
and for both father's and mother's descent from John King and Peter La 
Valley, see Chapter XXXII. This same chapter and the Appendix show 
Richmond's relation to the Lascelle-Wardwell, Waite and Hill families. 
The generations in this chapter are numbered from John Greene of Quidnes- 
sett, counting from the mother, Nancy King-Nichols^ side. The Nichols 
pedigree is also in Chapter XXXH. 



Richmond Nichols was the fifth child of David and Nancy King- 
Nichols. He was born Dec. 3, 1795. The family Bible was destroyed by 
fire. Curiously enough in filling out the records in a new one, every date 
in it was placed exactly a year later than it really was. I have therefore 
given his birth as the other Nichols records have it, in 1795 instead of 1796, 
and the births of the older children to correspond with these records also. 

In his sixth year his parents moved to Pompey,- N. Y., where he lived 
for 49 years longer. He removed to Ohio, where he died, 32 year later, 
Feb. 9, 1882, in his 87th year. He was married in 1820 to Margaret Rice, 
remotely of Welsh, and more nearly of Rhode Island descent. Through a 
marriage of one of the early Rices, she was of Randall Holden lineage, the 
fiery, radical man, a refugee to R. I,, because of the " damnable error," as the 
Massachusetts people put it, of his religious views, and who suffered arrest 
and imprisonment for the same. See Chapter VIII. 

213 



2i6 ^be (Brcene family 

Margaret was born in Hastings, Oswego Co., N. Y. She came of a 
family of whom some reached the centnry mark. She herself died in 1889 
aged 89. She was an active, independent, energetic woman, neat as a pin, 
and held in the family annals to be second only to Marie La Valley as a 
marvelous cook. 

When the War of 181 2-14 broke out, Richmond tried to enlist. He was 
but 16, and was rejected on account of his youth. He was rejected again in 
1814, this time as physically unfit. The Nichols home at Pompey was in 
Western N. Y., near Lake Ontario, and the Canada line. The York State 
men realized that war was at their door, when General Prevost attacked 
Sackett's Harbor on Lake Ontario. Every civilian who could march or 
carry a musket, rushed to its defense. Samuel King, Richmond's own broth- 
er-in-law, says this 1 7-year old boy was one of those that helped defend this 
important fort. Patriotism was a marked trait in his family. The war rec- 
ord of his sons breaks any other recorded in this book. Six of his sons went 
into the Civil War. One died of wounds, one lost his eyes, two came back 
to die by inches, and two returned hale and well. 

According to the old saying that every son is worth a thousand dollars 
to his parents, and every daughter half that sum, Richmond and Margaret 
Nichols accumulated quite a little capitnl in children, as they had 10 sons 
and 4 daughters. There was over 29 years difference in the ages of the old- 
est and the youngest sons, full brothers. Wealth in a tangible form never 
came to this couple, but no millionaire could have more hospitably welcom- 
ed friends to his home than did they. 

Richmond kept a young heart to the last. Once a niece visited them. 
She was wretchedly homesick. He saw it. With a merry " now for some 
fun ! " he took her in charge. Such a happy, lively day as they had ! Such 
tricks as he played ! Such droll stories as he told ! She never forgot it. 
How many men of 70 would take that much trouble to give a 14-year old 
girl a day of pleasure ? 

Thirteen of Richmond's children lived to be grown. The fourth child 
died at 1 1. This family was called the best looking of the entire David Nic- 
hols branch. Two or three of the sons were particularly fine looking men. 

GEORGE NICHOLS', b. March 19, 1822. The special turn of mechani- 
cal genius of his great-grandfather, Samuel King, was inherited by him. He is 
a mill-wright, and one who stands at the head of his profession. After he 
was 38 he gave up all other kinds of mill construction and confined hinxr 
self to saw-mills alone. The finest and largest saw-mills on the North Ameri- 
can continent he has constructed. From Canada to Louisiana he has built 
monster plants for Jay Gould and other capitalists. Twenty-three of these 
saw-mills have had a capacity of from 100,000 to 500,000 feet of lumber in 



^be 6rccnc family 217 

10 hours rim. He has taken out various patents in his line of work, and has 
brought his sons up to be draftsmen and mill-wrights, also. 

At the age of 30 Heorge married Hannah M. Coleman, of Pompey, N. 
Y. She was born in 1832 and died in 1894. Since then he lives with his 
sons in Canton, 111. His oldest son, Frederick Adell, died in August, 1853, 
at 3 months. Eva Anna, died in 1864, aged 9 years, and Alfred J. died in 
1 88 1, at the age of 24. This left but two sons. 

WiNFiELD Scott Nichols^ commonly called Scott, was born April 29, 1S61. He has 
charge of the construction work of a large manufactory of Canton, 111. Dec. 27, 1SS8, he 
m. Anna Beck. They have Bessie, b. Oct. 5, iSSg, George Beck, b. Feb. 10, 1892, and 
Elmer Leroy, b. Aug. 31, iSg". 

Frederick Richmond Nichols', b. June 14, 1S63. He is the Superintendent of 
Machinery in a Canton, 111., plow manufactory that employs 1200 workmen. Sept. 23, 1SS5, 
he m. Mary H. Manville. They have Eva Mary, b. July 17, 1S86, Harry Manville, b. 
March 13, 188S. Margaret C, b. Oct 20, 1S90, and Helen Jeanette, b. Oct. 26, 1892. 

HENRY NICHOLS^ [Rich.', Nancy^ Deborah Green-King^ etc., ] 
born Aug. 31, 1824. He came with his parents to Sharon Center. Ohio, 
when a young man, and has lived there ever since. Henry has the family 
records. As his older brother, George, has always been away from the rest 
of the family since he was grown, Henry is looked up to as the head of the 
Ohio Nicholses. He is a farmer. His wife was Huldah . 

Edwin O. Nichols', b. May 3, 1856. Married (i) to Catherine E. Long, in 1876. M. 
(2) to Eva A. Helmer in 1886. His son and daughter are by his first wife. 

Myrtle L. Nichols-Wilkinson^", b. Jan. 18. 1878 ; m. 1S96 to Edwin E. Wilkinson. 
They have Lloyd C. b. June S, 1897. and May Lavonn, b. July 5, 1901. 
Bernard Nichols^", b. Sept. 7, 1879. 

Edith Nichols-Gray", wife of James Gray. Her children are Henry, who died at less 
than a year, Ceorge Delno, Lloyd William, and Richmond Henry. 

George Nichols'. Married Nettie Buckley. She is the third or fourth generation 
from a Revolutionary War veteran, Benjamin Bentley. a pioneer settler who died at Sharon, 
O., in 1818. He was the great grandson of William Bentley, who was counted a leading 
citizen of Quidnessett in the early days. As such, along with old John Greene and 39 
other prominent men of the Narragansett country, he signed in 1679 a petition to the King 
begging him to put a stop to Connecticut's claims, which invalidated the title to their land. 
Narragansett Wm. Bentley was the grandson of a William who came to the colonies about 
1635- 

PERRY NICHOLS^ b. Aug. 8, 1825. I^ied not far from 1900. His 

wife was Alelvina . He was a life-long hotel keeper. The more 

of hustle, coming and going about him, the happier he was. He knew how 
to be in sixteen places at once, how to manage a waiter's strike, or to care 
for a train-load of excursionists at two hours' notice. Nichols Junction, Mo., 
was named in his honor by the Frisco R. R. Co. 

Frank Nichols'. His wife is Emma . He is proprietor of the Nichols House, 

Norwalk, Ohio. They have a daughter, Geneva B. 

Kate Nichols-Cunningham'' She lives in New London, C, and has several children. 

AMY ROSETTE NICHOLS', d. in 1838, aged 11. 

LEANDER NICHOLS', b. May i4- 1829. He married Eliza L. Mar- 



2i8 ^be (Brcene ffamtli? 

tin, Feb. 9, 1854. Slie was the daughter of James and Ruamy Martin, 
Friends or Quakers who came from N. Y. to Ruggles, O. Leander Nichols 
is in comfortable circumstances. His wife was an expert amateur gardener 
and kept their home literally embowered in flowers. He has been a widower 
many years. 

Elmer Nichols', b. Nov. 14, 1S54. He was married Nov. i6, 1S75, to Evalyn 
Woollev. They have but oue dau;^hter, Lena D., born Nov. 15, 1S78. 

ANN NICHOLS-BATTERSON^ b. Jar. 19, 1832. She was married 
to Simeon Batterson, Dec. 15, 1852. They live at Wanda, O. Mrs. Batter- 
son has furnished me considerable data for this work. 

Amy BATTERSOn-Roon', b. March 25, 1S54, and m. Feb. 25, 1892, to Warren Rood of 
Medina, O. They have a daughter Agnes, born May 10, iSgS. 

Herman Batterson', b. Oct. 3, 1357. and m. Jan. 25, 1887. His children are Burdette, 
b. Jan. 8. 1888, and Carrie, b. Dec. 27, 1892. 

ALBERT NICHOLS', b. Sept. 4, 1833. He was married Oct. 10, 1857, 
to Jane Gano, who was the mother of his children. He married his present 
wife, who was Mrs. Pliebe Newton, July 18, 1901. Albert enlisted in the 
Civil War in Feb. 1864. ^^ draws a total disability pension, as he sacrificed 
two good eyes for his country. He is almost entirely blind. He lives in 
Benton Harbor, Mich. The list of grandchildren was not furnished me. 

WiLMER Nichols', lives at Bangor, Mich, 

Grace Nichols-Newton', She was her father's housekeeper for some years. She mar- 
ried her step-mother's son, and lives in Chicago. 

Mrs. Leah Nichols-Shkkman'. \\ ife of R. O. Sherman, Chicago. 
Florence Nichols-Johns'. Lives in Genoa, Texas. 
LuTA Nichols', died Nov. 30, 1874. 

DANIEL NICHOLS^ b. Aug. 8, 1835. Daniel served three years in the 
103d Ohio Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil War. He m. in 1880, when 
he was 45, Julia, daughter of Ephraim and Elizabeth Gaver-Cramer. She 
was born and raised in Frederick Co., Maryland. Their only child died at 
birth. Since 1895 they have had their orphan niece, Minnie, daughter of 
John Nichols, deceased. He lives at Chagrin Falls, Ohio. 

LOUISE ROSINA NICHOLS-FOSTER', b. April 25, 1837. Louise 
was housekeeper for many years for her bachelor uncle, John Nichols. She 
m. William Foster, Nov. 30, 1870. Her husband's death and financial re- 
verses came together, in 1890. Louise at 53, wasted no time in putting up 
a " poor mouth," but began to support herself as a housekeeper. As she ex- 
presses it, she " never borrows as long as she can buy, and always keeps 
enough money on hand to pay a doctor's bill, and buy the coffin she will 
need by and by." 

CLARA A. NICHOLS-IRVIN^ b. April 20, 1839; d. July 19, 1897. 
She was left a widow with two daughters, only one of whom is living. 

Ella Irvin^, b, Nov. 11, 1862 ; d. Sept. i6, 1881. 

Ida ^L Irvin-Sieffen®, b. Feb. 29, i860 ; m. Jan. 17, 1878. She lives in Hinckley, 
Ohio. Her children are Clara, b. July i, 1879, Alta, b. Jan. 24, 1881, Harry J., b. Dec. 



^be (5recne ffainili? 219 

1882, Katie, b. Sept. 23, 1884, Ruby, b. Feb. 20. 1887, Ray, b. July 11, 1889, Daniel J., b. 
Dec. I, iSgi, and Georgie, who died in 1893, aged nearly 6. 

WILUAiAI H. H. NICHOLS^ (Harrison,) b.' Nov. 4, 1841. He was 
a soldier in the Civil War, one of six brothers in the service. He was struck 
with a shell at Antietam, and although he lived, he died a few years after 
from the effects of the wonnd. 

JOHN NICHOLS^ b. Aug. 6, 1844; d. in 1895. During the Civil War 
he was sent home to die. He rallied, but was never well again. He m. in 
1874. 

Charles Nichols'. He served three years in the Spanish-American War, 1898-1901. 
He is now living in Madina Co., O. 
Dee Nichols*. Lives in Medina Co., O. 
Minnie Nichols', b. June 22, 188S. She lives with her uncle, Samuel Nichols. 

CHARLEvS NICHOLvS^ b. May 12, 1848. He was the youngest of the 
six brothers who went to the war. He died from a woimd in the Civil War. 
He was under 18 years of age at his death. 

FRANKLIN LEROY NICHOLS^ b. May 28, 185 1. When he was 
born, he had 8 brothers and sisters over 15 years of age, and one brother was 
in his 30th year. Frank himself is No. 14. He lives at Creston, Ohio. 
He has the largest family in the Richmond Nichols' third generation, having 
Leroy, Henry, Clarinda, Flina, Grace and DeForest. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

DESCENDANTS OF HENRY AND CYNTHIA NICHOLS-KING 

Family Trees. For descent from Sir Alexander, first Lord de Greene 
de Boketon, A. D. 1202, and descent from the Capet Kings of France, from 
line beginning A. D. 861, see Chapter XL For the lineage of both hus- 
band and wife from the Kings and the La Valleys, see Chapter XXII. For 
all other lines of the wife's descent, including two strains of John Greene 
of Quidnessett blood, also lineage from Capt. Straight, Hugh Parsons, 
Stukeley Westcott and Obediah Holmes, together with lineage from Lascelles, 
Wardwells, Waites and Hills, see Chapter XXXII, and Appendix also. 

Spink Descent, on husband's side. (See Chapter XXII.) Robert 
Spink\ an early Quidnessett settler ; Capt. Ishmael Spink^ and wife Deliver- 
ance Hall ; Benjamin Spink^ and wife Jane ; Deliverance Spink\ who married 
John King, grandfather to Henry King. 

Aebro Descent, on husband's side. " Quaker John Alburro\" or Al- 
borough, now pronounced Albro. He died at the Quaker settlement of 
Portsmouth, R. I., Dec. 17, 17 12, aged 96. Hon. John", Assistant President 
of Providence Plantations, the earliest name of R. I. His wife was Mary 
Stokes ; John'', and Abigail Belloo ; John* and Lydia Spencer ; Job'^ and De- 
borah Andrews, who was probably of those Andrews (see chapter XVIII) 

who were of double Quidnessett Greene descent ; Eunice*^, who married Job 
King, and Henry", their son. 



Cynthia Nichols^ was born March 4, 1796, and died after 1870. She 
was married Jan. 5, 181 5, to her second cousin, Henry King, and thus their 
marriage gave three strains of both King and La Valley blood to their 
children. Henry was descended from John, son of Magdalen and Marie La 
Valley-King, Cynthia, on her mother's side, came from Samuel, John's 
brother, and on her father's side from Susan, their sister. Cynthia's child- 
ren inherited from her two strains of Qnidnessett Greene blood, one line 
coming from Lieut. James Greene^ and the other from his brother, Lieut. 
John Greenel Their father, moreover, was almost certainly through his 

230 



Zbc (5reene family 221 

grandmother, Deborah Andrews-Albro, descended twice over from Lieut. 
John Greene^. 

Henry and Cynthia King's children therefore had the most crossed and 
most related blood of any of David and Nancy Nichols' grandchildren. In 
the family it was alwa}'S understood that they partook largeh- of the Albro 
temperament, having their independence and their unyielding will. The 
oldern Kings had a thrifty side. The triple infusion of their blood has made 
this entire family money makers. Like their three-times-over first American 
ancestress, Marie La Valley, they have been tremendous workers. The La 
Valley reserve is also marked. Many of this line prefer the barest mention 
of tlveir individual families, holding that their details are not for outside eyes. 
From the Nichols side not a few have taken a passionate love of music. 

Forty years ago Job King, a brother of Henry, summed up his family's 
characteristics in these words : " They are long-lived, hardy, industrious, very 
fond of sports, hunting and fishing ; all very tenacious of what they believe 
to be their just and honest rights, and would willinglj- sacrifice time and 
money to defend the same, when attacked by an enem}'. To friends, they 
are more than a common friend ; to an enemy, they are equally noted as un- 
yielding and unconquerable, not much given to compromise." 

Of the heads of this line this may be said : 

Henry King was born in the State of New York, ]\Iay ii, 1794. He 
died March 25, 1865. His wife was born at Pompey, N. Y., March 4, 1796. 
In the War of 1812, Henry King served in the army along with Cynthia's 
brothers, John and Henry. His intimacy with the brothers ended in an 
attachment to the sister, whom he married Jan. 5th, 181 5. Their large fam- 
ilv were all born in N. Y. IMost of their relatives having moved to Indiana 
or Ohio, their clannish feeling led them to follow them. In 1839 they moved 
to Huron County, Ohio, where the rest of their lives were spent. Here Cap- 
tain King, as he was called, purchased several hundred acres of land. A 
settlement grew up, called at first King's Corners. When it put on village and 
young city airs it changed its name to New London. Energetic from the 
crown of his head to the sole of his foot, Henry King set varioiis enter- 
prises into motion and kept them there. Under his direction a large part 
of the first railroad was built that passed through northern Ohio. He built 
the first church in New London, according to the recollection of his children, 
paying for it out of his own pocket. At the time of his death his home 
paper said of him, " The poor man, provided he was industrious, 
was certain of finding in him a most excellent friend. The lazy always 
found themselves held in abhorence." 

Mrs. Ascher, their youngest child, pays this feeling tribute to her 
parents : " My father was a man respected by all with whom he came into 



222 tlbe 6reene jFanul\> 

contact. He was foremost in every enterprise. My mother was methodical 
and self-controlled. She was fond of reading in a time when books were 
few and difficult to obtain. I remember her as a thoughtful woman who 
had an uncommon dislike of gossip and idleness. She seems to me to have 
been of the best t}'pe of the old fashioned New England woman. She was 
perhaps peculiar. She said and did things that I never knew any one else 
to say or do. One of her sayings was that all time belonged to God, and she 
must use it to the best advantage. She commenced the day with devotion. 
After breakfast she meditated, planning out the order of the day, and 
the way it should be done. After the regular forenoon's work was done she 
read her Bible and spent some time in reflection, for she said all reading and 
no reflection was not good. 

" ]\Iy brothers were industrious and intelligent. They were men of in- 
tegrit}', and their word was counted good anywhere." 

Owing to their dislike of publicity, the rest of the family biography will 
be rapidly passed over. There were lo children, 7 sons and 3 daughters, 
viz. : George, Vernon, Charles, Degoliar, Henry, John, Cynthia, Job, Hul- 
dali and Sabrina. Only one died young. 

GEORGE KING', b. Jan. 12, 1816. He died in 1898, aged 82. He 
was married first to Susan Williams. By this wife he had 6 children, 
Eunice, who became ]\Irs. ]\Iorrill, and George, Henry, De Loss, De Golier, 
and De Witt. He married the second time. 

VERNON KING", b. July 10, 1818. ]\Iarried (i) to his cousin, Polly 
Ann Bradley. See Chapter XXXVH. 2 children, only one of whom lived 
to marry. He was married (2) to Regina Powers, who had no children. 
He and his family lived in Michigan. He died, i\Iarch 29, 1895. 

Homer W. Kixg*, b. Nov. 13, 1S44. Married on his 22d birthday to Ellen S. Gates. 
Two sons. 

Wallace E. King^", b. April 27, 1S70. Married to Miss Emily S. Granville. 
They had Veva G., born Oct. 17, 1S92, Sabra Verna, b. Jan. 11, 1895, and Rachel 
E., born Dec. 19, iSq6. 

April 15, 1902, the father was away for the night. His second cousin Alma, the 
l8-year old daughter of Charles King (of De Goliar,) came to spend the night with 
them. The house took fire. Five year old Rachel alone escaped, the youngest 
occupant of the house. I ler mother, her sisters Veva and Verna, and her cousin 
Alma, all perished in the flames. Two months later Alma's father died of grief, 
making this fearful tragedy to have blotted out five human lives. 

Jay S. King^^ Married Miss Beckwith. They have twin sons born Jan. 15, 1903. 
Elmer L. King^. Youngest son of Vernon, B. April 19, 1S51 ; d. July 13,- 1873, 
aged 22. 

CHARLES KING^ b. April 20, 1819. M. (i) Olivia Merrifield, Sept 

4, 1844. They had 6 children. ]\I. (2) Myra , who d. in 1866. She 

had 4 children. M. (3) Julia , who had 3 children, and lastly m. 

Mrs. Harriet Kester . Of the first wife's 6 children, Celestine, Rosa- 



Zhc (Breene ffHinil^ 223 



lette, Charles W. and Charles D., (2) died young. 

Marvette King-Millima.n^, b. March 6. 1S45. M. Bryant Milliman, May 23, i£67. 
They live in Kansas, and have no children. 

Urvixe King-Hotchkiss®, b. Nov. 29. 1S51. M. Dec. 25, 1S73, to Egbert C. Hotch- 
kiss. Their children are Lillie Elva, b. April 11, 1875. Nellie .\Iargaret, b. June iS, 
1S77, Daisy Edith, b. April 9, iSSo, and William Jay, b. Dec. 26, 1S82. 

By his second wife, Charles King had these children : 

Charles M. King*, b. July 6, 1S57. He was the third son to be named Charles. 
He married Alice A. Wayman in 1SS5. He lives in Oakland, California. Their oldes, 
child. Myrtle May, died in 1S88, aged 15 months. Their other children are Mabel Lavinat 
b. Jan. 13, 18S9, Chauncey Melrose, b. Aug-. 21, 1S91, and Lucile Elvira, b. Nov. iS, 
1897. 

Edward Amiiersi-King". 

Wallace Likcolx Kl\g*, left home in 1S73, and all trace of him lost. 

Cynthlv King-Powers', b. March 26, 1S63 ; m. at 20 to William H. Powers of Ben- 
ton Harbor, Michigan. They lost a four-months old baby, Wallace Earle, b. March 26, 
1886, and a bright little boy of 5, Karl Clyde, who died in 1896. Their only living child 
is Robin B, b. Aug. 22, 1S96. 

By his third wife, Charles King was the father of these : 

Henry Oscar Kin(;', b. April 22, 1873. Usually called Oscar. He lives in Upper 
Sandusky, Ohio. 

George A. King*, b. Sept. 9, 1S74. 

Anson DeLoss King', b. in Nov. 1S76. He lives in Lorain, Ohio. 

DEGOLIAR KING', b. Jan. 3, 182 1 ; d. April, 1896. His daughter, 
Mrs. Piper, gives these incidents of him : " At 18 his family moved from Jef- 
ferson Co., N. Y., to New London, Ohio. He was homesick for the old home. 
One night he .slipped out of the house and started back on foot, all his belong- 
ings tied up in a red handkerchief, and an old-fashioned sixpence piece in 
his pocket. He reached his destination and the sixpence was yet in his 
pocket ! After some years he returned to Ohio. At 29, he married Mary Earl, 
He u.sed to joke about it, sa}-ing his children were surely well born, as they 
came from an Earl on one side, and a King on the other. After this wife's 
death, he married in 1855 his brother Henr}-''s widow, who was also a sister 
to his first wife. Bv Almira Earl-King-King he had another familv." 

Soon after 1855 Degoliar moved to Michigan, where in Benton Harbor, 
he died, in April, 1896. His wife died about 13 years before. He Vv^as post- 
master at Sodus, jMichigan, for some years. He was a just man, whose 
motto was "truth and honestv." His daughter savs he had one of the 
sweetest, strongest voices she ever heard ; he could be heard singing a mile 
away. 

By his first wife Degoliar had four children, two of whom died in in- 
fancy. The other two were these : 
John King®. 
^MELiNE King-Piper'. Married to Dr. Piper of Turtle Lake, Mich. 

By the second wife, there were several children, some of whom died 
young. 



224 ^be (Breene Jamil^ 



Charles King', b. Jan. 7, 1857. Me married Mary Carmony, March 12, i38i. His 
second child, Alma, a girl of 18, was burned to death, April 15, 1902. See under heading of 
Vernon King, this chapter. Charles grieved himself to death over the awful catastrophe, 
dying June 13, 1902, less than two months after. 
Claude King", b. Feb. 16, 1S83. 
Alma King'", b. Sept. 1884. Burned to death at 18. 
Emeline King", b. Nov. 17, 1886. 
Earl King'", b. Jan. 9, 1895. 
Fern King", b. June 20, 1899. 
An.vbei.le Kinc-Burdick'. Died about 1S87, leaving three children. Myrtle, Roy and 
Hattie. 

LiBBiE Kixg-Conkey", of Benton Harbor, Michigan. 

Chauncey Degoli.\r King', b. May 12, 1872. Married Ida Megbon, in Jan. 1897, 
Their children are Lizzie, b. Aug. 2, 189S, and Mildred, born Jan. 27, 1902. 

HENRY KING*, b. August 29, 1822. He married Almira Earl. He 
died at about 30. His widow married his brother Degoliar. His children 
were Laura, who became Mrs. Cook, and Delila, who died young. 

JOHN KING'', b. Aug. 27, 1824. He spent his life at New London, Ohio. 
By his first wife, who was a Miss Case, he had a son John, who was brought 
up by his mother's people and took the name of Case. The second wife was 
Ann, by whom he had one son, Vernon, now li\'ing at New London. 

CYNTHIA KING-AKEWRIGHT^ b. April 19, 1S26. Married to Mr. 
Akewriofht. Thev lived in I\Iichio-an. 

WiNi'iELD Akewright'-', of Sodus, Mich. 

Hbxry Akewright'. 

Cei.estine Akewright'-Omwag. Living at Sodus. 

JOB KING', b. ]\Iarch 29, 1S28. Died in Michigan. 

Chauncey King*. 
Bert King'. 

HULDAH KING', b. Dec. i, 1830. Died young. 

SABRINA KING-ASCHER; b. Aug. 17, 1S35. She is the youngest 
of this family, a bright, alert and quick-brained woman. At about 17 she 
married Herman Asclier, who was born of Jewi.sh parents in Konigslnirg, 
Prussia, He was the son of a brave old Prussian soldier, who was decor- 
ated for conspicuous bravery. The Jew has an inborn love of music. Its 
strains, weird, sad, sweet and strong, voice to him his race's heaped up sorrow 
of the ages. Herman Ascher had this passionate love of melody, 
and passed it on to his children after him. Though he came to America, 
and married here, our land was never home to him. Finall}- he shook its 
dust from off his feet, and went to the far Orient. For many years he was 
in India, and is said to have accumulated a large estate there. He was on 
his way back to his family in America, and had reached France, when he 
sickened and died there. Some of his sons have travelled into strange and 
distant lands also, but all are now living in the Lake states. 

Cecelia Ascher-Cassad.v', b. March 4, 1S53, Wife of Dr. Cassada, and mother of 

eight children. 



^be (Brcene family 225 



Sophia Ascher', b. 1855; d. 187S, aged 23. 

Edward K. Ascher', b. March 17, 1857. He married Martha McCook Rowley. 
They have Frances, Herman, Margaret and James. 

Otto K. Ascher^ b. July 3. 1S63. He married Mary Stiles, and has Harry, Mary 
and Philip. 

Louis K. Asciier", b. March i, 1865. He married Alice Bailey, and has one son, 
Norman. 



16 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

DESCENDANTS OF MIRANDA NICHOLS-BARNES^ 

Family Trees. A general summing np of all lines is given in 
Chapter XXXII. For descent from the First Lord de Greene de Boke- 
ton, A. D. 1202, and descent from Robert the Strong, Duke of France, A. 
D. 86 1, See Chapter XL For full particulars of lineage from John Greene 
of Ouidnessett through his son, Lieut. John, see Chapter XV ; through his 
son, Lieut. James, see Chapter XX ; all other lines, Nichols, King, La Valley, 
Straight, Westcott, Hill, Wardwell, etc., are in the first mentioned Chapter 
XXXIL 



Miranda Barnes was born Dec. i6, 1799, among the Berkshire Mount- 
ains of Massachusetts. She was brought up in Ponipey, N. Y. She died 
in Wolcottville, Indiana, Jan. 7, 1852. She was married on her i8th birth- 
day to Samuel Barnes of Mass. descent. He was lineally descended from 
John Barnes, who came to Plymouth, Mass., in 163 1. This John Barnes' 
immediate descendants intermarried with the Mayflower familes of Gov. John 
Carver, Richard Warren and Gov. William Bradford. Samuel's grand- 
father served in the French and Indian War. His father, Hartwell Barnes, 
served almost seven years in the Revolutionary War under Gen. Putnam. 
His mother was Hannah Clark, who descended from Peter Wolcott, emi- 
grant in 1630. She was the granddaughter of Governor Roger Wolcott of 
Connecticut, and neice of Oliver Wolcott, one of the signers of the Declara- 
tion of Independence. 

Samuel Barnes was a true son of the Puritans. His character was as 
rugged, strong and enduring as the granite hills amid which he was born. 
He was unflinching in his convictions and called a spade a spade. Like a 
chestnut burr, beneath his brusque exterior was a heart of worth. The 
Baptist Church at Wolcottville, Ind., of which he was a charter member, 
erected a beautiful memorial window in his honor. He was a soldier in the 
war of 1812. He outlived his wife 22 years, dying April 6, 1874. 

The Barnes remained in N. Y. nearly twenty years after their marriage. 

226 



CTe (Brccne Ifamtl^ 227 

Then with lo children they moved to Indiana, at that time a new country. 
The rest of their life was spent in Wolcottville, Indiana. Mrs. Barnes died 
Jan. 7, 1852. She was a woman of fine mental powers and tireless energy. 
She not only cared for her 14 children, but found time, in this pioneer 
region where at first there were no doctors, to compound herbs and home 
remedies, in which she had great skill. She would never take a penny for 
her services. Their children were Nancy, Orville, Harriet, Samuel King, 
Mariam, Riley (i), Riley (2), Nelson, John, David Hartwell, Antionette, 
Richmond, and the twins, Theodore and Theodosia. Riley (i) died in 
1828, aged I year. Theodore died in 1843, aged 3 weeks. 

NANCY A. BARNES-EMERSON^ b. Aug. 14, 1818; d. March 22, 
1879. She lived up to the family tradition that a strenuous life awaited 
each Nancy. The oldest of a great family, when other children of her age 
were making mud pies, she was cooking the family meals, and standing on 
a chair to wash dishes. Twice she was a pioneer in a new country. At 16 
she was a teacher. ]May 3, 1840, she married Alba Emerson, and became 
the mother of 12 children. Alba Emerson was a scion of the New England 
family to which the poet-philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, belonged. 
He had the Emersonian ways of thought, and the Emersonian way of ex- 
pressing them. This is reflected in his children who have much the same 
turn, and are also mosth- Emersons in looks, being of slender build and of 
fairest blonde type. 

Eight of their children live in ]\Iichigan, one in ^Minnesota, and one in 
Indiana. All are well-to-do, all are ambitious for their children. None of 
them use tobacco or intoxicating drinks. 

Juliette Emersox-Shuman', b. Ma)' 25, 1842, and m. Aug^. 30, 1S60, to William 
Shuman. Their home is in Benton Harbor, Mich. I am indebted to her for much of this 
data. 

Eva E. Shuman-Shriver^", b. Oct. 29, 1S65 ; m. Oct. 27, 18S7, to Charles Shriver. 
They have Gladys V., b. Nov. iS, 1SS9, and Uldene E., b. Aug. iS, i8qi. 

Leona M. Shuman-Koontz^", b. Sept. i, 1S67 ; m. to George Koontz, Dec. 23, 

18S9. Their only child, Lester Emerson, died when a few months old, in 1S95. 

Theodore A. Emerson^, b. Nov. 29, 1843 ; m. Mary Bower, Aug. 25, 1S67. He was 

a soldier in the Civil War. For 36 years he lived on a large and well appointed farm at 

Brandon, Minn. Here all his children were born. He removed to Wolcottville, Indiana, 

in March, 1903. 

Roxanna Emerson-Landa'**, b. May 26, 1S6S. Married to James Landa of Bran- 
don, Minn. She died Oct. 21, 1895. Her children were Eunice, b. April 15, 1391, 
Mvrtle, b. Dec. 21, 1892, Clarence, b. and d. in 1S94, and Ralph, b. Oct. 21, 1S95. 
Byron Todd Emerson'", b. Sept. 30, 1S75. 

Lenora Emerson-Ewing"', b. July 28, 187S. She is the wife of Rev. W. J. 
Ewino-. Winfield, their oldest child, died in 1899 at i month old. They have a son 
Everett Emerson, b. March 8, 1903. 

Eva L. Emerson-Wold^", b. Feb. 12, 1880 ; m. Carl Wold July 4, 1900. They 
live in Brandon, Minn., and have a daughter, Blanche, b. Sept. 3. 1901. Her 
husband is a merchant. 



228 ^be (Breene jfamtl^ 

Raymond Emerson'", b. Sept. 26, 18S1. 
Mary Edith Emerson'", b. Nov. 14, 1883. 
Nancy A. Emerson'", b. Sept. 16, 18S7. 
Elsie Viola Emerson'", b. Jan. 17, 1889. 

Hon. John' O. Emerson', b. March 6, 1845, has spent most of his life in Minnesota. 
He married Addie McKibben, a sister to John C. Nichols' wife. Something of her line is 
given in Chapter XXXIX. His wife frankly says of Hon. John, "I am proud of him, 
not because of his wealth, or his legislative record, but because his word is as good as a first 
mortgage on a gold bond." 

Miranda M. Emerson-Shimer^ b, Oct. 26, 1846; m. Isaac Shimer, Oct. 6, 1869. She 
d. April 16, 1891. Of her a sister says, " Few enjoyed a profitable argument better than 
she ; few as enthusiastically studied the problems of human life or of our social system. 
She believed in making the world better." She left one son, Harry, b. Dec. 13, 1870. 

Clark S. E.mekson^, b. Sept. 6, 1848. M. Margaiet McCray, April 27, 1876. They live 
near Benton Harbor, Mich., on the old home place. He has two sons, Aden McCray, b. 
Aug. 25, 1878, and Ralph Waldo, b. April 8, 1880. Aden took the highest honors at his 
graduation. 

Harriet A. Emkrson-Rosa', b. April 23, 1850. M. to Abraham Rosa, Oct. 16, 1869. 
They have Alba, b. Sept. 4, 1870, and John, b. March 21, 1875. Their home in Benton 
Harbor, Mich. 

Lydia L. Emerson-McCray', b. Feb. 14, 1852 ; m. to George McCray of Benton 
Harbor, July 3, 1879. No children. 

PoLi.Y A. Emerson-Mii.i.s', b. Jan. 28, 1854 ; m. Feb., 1S72, to George A. Mill^ of 
Benton Harbor. Thev have no children. 

MvRON Emerson', b. Sept. 15, i860 ; m. July 5, 1881 , to \fay D. Finch. Their first 
children were twins, Ruth and Rae, b. March i, 1885. Ruth died at 6 months. Thdr 
other children are Archie Lyle, b. July 29, i883. Amy Elizabeth, b. Sept. 5, 1890, and 
Kathyrn, b. Jan. 24, 1898. This family live at Benton Harbor. 

Bertia a, Emkrson-Noe-Moli.hagan', b. Sept. 15, 1863. She was m. (i) to William 
Noe, April 2, 1882. M. (2) to John Molihagan, Sept. 18, 1894. By this last marriage she 
has one son, Lloyd Emerson, b. April 4, 1896. She lost a daughter, Doris Molihagan, at 
birth, Sept. 27, 1901. She lives in St. Joe, Mich.- 

ORVILLE S. BARNES^ b. Aug. 21, 1819; d. Oct. 29, 1889. He 
was m. Oct i. 1845, to Amanda Culver, who d. in 1892. They had 12 
children. Lewis Irvine, Henry Harrison, and the twins Susan and Sarah, all 
died in infancy. The others, are these : 

Christopher CoLUMr.rs Barnes', b. Nov. i6, 1S46 ; m. Sarah Stevenson, April 27, 
1873. Their children are Grace, b. March 29, 1874, and Ida. b. Sept. 17, 1877. 

William Ira Barnes', b. March 11, 1849. He married his cousin, Emma J. Culver, Oct. 
5, 1874. They have Alice A., b. April 6, 1875, Mabel M., b., Sept. 23, 1877, Francis 
Marion, b. Aug. 15, iSSo, Elsie M., b. March 28, 1SS4, Beulah H., b. May 18, 1885, 
andCalcie C, b. May 19, 1889. Of this family one has said, "William and Emma have 
raised as fine a family as I ever knew." 

Samuel C. Barnes', b. Sept. 11, 1850. M. Elizabeth Bull. She died 1891 They 
had William Irvine, b. April 14, 1875, James H., b. Oct. 21, 1876, Charles W , b. 
Sept 2, 1878, Albert C, b. July 8, 1880, and Francis M., b. Dec. 26, 1882. 

Lydia Antionette Barnes-Nelson', b. Oct. 24, 1855 ; m. John Nelson. 11 children, 
of whom 4 died in infancv. Those who lived are Archie A., Amanda E., b. Sept. 25, 
1881, Sarah, b. June 3, 1883, Edith E., b. July 12. 1885. Merdie M., b. Dec. 24, 1887, 
Chester, b. Jan. 8, 1891, and Lester E., b. March 10, 1895. 

John Riley Barnes', b. Aug. iS, 1859 ; d. Dec. 13, 1898 ; m. Amanda Butts. No 
children. 




MRS. GERTIE BARNES-PALMER 



^be 6rccne jfamil^ 229 

Margaret Barnes-Pierce^ A twin. B. May 24, 1S64.. M. Monroe Pierce. 6cliildren. 

La Fayette Barnes^ Margaret's twin. He m. Flora Ripley. 

Flora Belle Barnes-Merriti^ b. March i, 1870. M. to Albert Merritt. Nochildren. 

HARRIET LA VALLEY BARNES-McNALL'. M. Hiram McNall, 
of ^lich. She left Celestia M., b. June 4, 1848, Harriet F., b. June 
7, 1849, and Myron Irvine, b. Sept. 5, 1850. They live in Michigan. 

SAMUEL KING BARNES^ b. Oct 6, 1823; d. Oct. 20, 1891. He 
married Eliza Johnson, Oct. i, 1848. She was born April 8, 1827, i^^ Gosh- 
en, N. Y., and died March 13, 1897. 

How plainly King Barnes' good-natured face comes to memory ! His 
stubby grey hair that zvoiild stand straight up, and that genial voice that 
related his exhaustless fund of good stories ! King was warm-hearted and 
large-souled, and successful in all he undertook. It is a peculiar coinci- 
dence that he was born, married and died in October, and that he and all 
of his children were married by the same minister, Rev. F. P. Hall. They 
lived for a time in Indiana, other years in Iowa, and their later life in 
Huron County, Ohio. Both of them, by their own request, are buried in 
Iowa, by the side of their daughter Lottie, in beautiful Oakland Cemetery. 

They had but one son, who died Aug. 2, 1851, aged a little over 2 years. 

Laura Josephine Barnes-Evans^, b. Sept. 21, L852; d. April 10, 1884, aged nearly 32. 
She was always called Lottie. She married John C. Evans, Sept. 20, 1877. They re- 
moved to Iowa, where he became a leading man. He is the founder of Evanston, and is a 
grain buyer and capitalist. They lost their first child at birth, July 23, 1S78. Lottie 
left two others, Edith Mae, b. Sept. 16, 1880, and Edna E., b. Sept. 12, 1882, whom she re- 
quested should be raised by her sister Mary. This sister has been indeed a mother to 
these children. 

Mary Elizabeth Barnes-Evans'^, b. Oct. 5, 1854. She married J. C. Evans, whose 
first wife was her sister Lottie, March 8, 1885. They have one daughter, Lottie Josephine, 
b. Sept. 22. 18S8. The Evans have an elegant home in Fort Dodge, Iowa. 

Gertie A. Barnes-Palmer^, b. July i, i860. She was m. Oct. i, 1879, to Abner 
Eugene Palmer. The Palmers go back to crusading days. Their name itself means palm- 
bearer, i. e., one who having made the journey to the Holy Land and back, was entitled to 
bear palms in procession upon Palm Sunday. The first American Palmer was Walter, who 
came to Massachusetts in 1629 in charge, with John (Governor) Endicott, of 
si.x ship-loads of colonists. He settled eventually in Connecticut. At Stonington, Conn., 
is a monument to the three founders of the town, one of whom was this Walte" Palmer. 
From Walter^ came Abijalr, Willianr\ William*, .-\bijah^, Hiram^, and then Abner 
Eugene. Mr. Palmer has been very successful in all his undertakings. They live in Fort 
Dodge, Iowa, where the two sisters, all that is left of their family, can be near each other. 
Their oldest child. King Barnes, d. Sept. 14, 1881, aged 15 months. 
Mabel Fern Palmer'^ b. May 22, 1881. 
Jesse Wetmore Palmer'", b. Sept. 30, 1883. 
Chester Ray Palmer'", b. April 29, 1885. 

MARIAM M. BARNES-TERRY^ B. March 30, 1826. She was 
m. Nov. 15, 1856, to Rev. George Terry of Mich., who left her a widow in 
1861 . She returned to Wolcottville, Indiana, and was her father's house- 
keeper. June 2, 1874, a little over a month after his death, this dutiful 



230 ^be Greene family? 



daughter who had so tenderly cared for her father's declining years, followed 
him to her grave. Her son returned to Michigan. He is a railroad man 
and lives in Kalamazoo. 

George Nelson Terry^, b. Aug. 14, iSGo. His mother's death threw him out to do 
for himself at 14. He m. Cora B. Golden, Aug. 31, 18S2. He is the Foreman Car Inspector 
for a Michigan Railway Co. George lost his first son, Leon at 5 months old, in Oct. 1SS4. 
He has one son living, Roy William, born August 30, 1898. 

RILEY RINALDO BARNES', b. June i, 1829. Died unmarried Feb. 
I, 1892, aged 63. He had something of a roving disposition in his younger 
days and spent the years from 1858 to 1862 in California, Oregon, and the 
Rocky Mountains, when these regions were considered quite outside of 
civilization. He was a mill-wright, and a good one. He put up many 
mills in the states that border on Canada. For 14 years he made 
his home with his nephew, T. A, Emerson, of Brandon, IVIinn. The last 
ten years of his life were spent with his brother and brother's family, the 
widow and children of Hartwell Barnes in Iowa. He was totally blind for 
nine years. Riley was turned like his father, abrupt of speech, but kind of 
heart. He was well read and observant. He served 3 years in an Oregon 
company during the Civil War. 

NELSON IRVINE NICHOLS BARNES', b. Nov. 15, 1830, and d. 
Nov. 29, 1850, aged 20. Unmarried. 

JOHN O. M. BARNES', b. Feb. 25, 1833; d. Jan. 13, 1862, aged 29. 
He was married April 12, 1856. He left two children, Theodore Irvine 
and Harriet. The widow married again and moved away, and all trace has 
been lost of these heirs. 

DAVID HARTWELL BARNES', b. Aug. 9, 1835 ; d. March 7, 1891, 
aged 56. Hart Barnes, as he was commonly known, adopted teaching as 
his life profession. He bore a striking resemblance to Daniel Webster, 
having the same massive brow, square jaw, thin-lipped mouth and dark 
complexion. He was a man of intense energy and resolution. He was 
married June 22, 1856, to Mary Jane Strayer, the oldest daughter of Michael 
and Melinda Nichols-Strayer. She was, and is, a comely woman, fair and 
blue-eyed, with rippling, curly hair that frames in a face always illumined 
with smiles. 

Hartwell suffered long from asthmatic, heart and nervous troubles. He 
taught for years, when only sheer will power kept him up. No man ever 
had a more devoted family. Jane Barnes did man's and woman's work, in- 
door and out, to spare him. When even his iron will had to yield to physical 
weakness, Emma, the oldest daughter, began to teach at a month past 14. 
Frances, the second daughter, commenced teaching at 15. The children all 
worked hard, but their struggle but bound them the closer together. The 
entire family moved to Iowa in 1880. Here Hart well's health improved, 




ABNER EUGENE PAI^MER 



Zbc (Brccne Janul^ 



2.^^I 



and he prospered also. 

There was a romance connected with the older daug-hter's niarriasfe. 
Her husband used to say that he fell in love with her before he ever saw 
her, because she was so good to her parents. He proposed the second day 
after he met her, and wooed with such earnestness that they were married 
two months and a day from the time they first met. 

Emma J. Baunes-Sockrider', b. March ii, 1858 ; m. John W. Sockrider, Feb. 26. 
1879. Mrs. Sockrider is now a widow, and lives at Jennings, Louisiana, near tiie Gulf, on 
a rice farm. 

Guy W. Sockrider"*, born in the summer of 1880. M. Myrtle Belle Clark, of 
Louisiana, Jan. 16, igoi. They have a son, Clyde, born in 1902. 

Norah Gay Sockrider-Norton^", b. June 30, 1882. She is the wife of Carl G. 
Norton, of Jennings, Louisiana. They have one son, Ernest, b. in igo2. 

Frances J. Barnes-Sells^, b. June 16, 1S60, and m. to B. W. Sells of Webster, Iowa, 
Sept. 21, 18S1. He belongs to a prominent family. They live on an extensive farm four 
miles from Webster City. Their only child is Mary Elma, b. Nov. 18, 1886. 

Charles Barnes', died Oct. 22, 1862, aged 7 weeks. 

William Henry Barnes', b. Jan. ig, 1864, m. Alice Whistler, Oct. 30, iS83. Their 
children are David Hartvvell, b. March 31, 1S90, Katie Belle, b. Nov. 2, 1893. and Mary 
Jane, b. Feb. 18, 1897. 

George Melvin Barnes', b. Feb. 18, i866." He m. Arvena Traver, Feb. 24, 1S91. 
They have Lula Jane, b. Jan. 20, i8g2, Bennie W., who d. in 1894 aged 9 months. Helen 
J., b. July 22, 1895, Leslie Traver, who died young, Ada Leona, b. March 7, 1900, and 
Kittle Melvena, b. Dec. 16, igoj. 

John Michael Barnes', b. April 13, 1S75 

Samuel King Barnes', b. Aug. 3, 1880. 

MIRANDA ANTIONETTE BARNES-ELUS^ b. Dec. 27, 1836. 
Married William Ellis, Aug. 26, 1866. They went to Nebraska where she 
yet lives. She is a woman who despises shams, affectation or toadying 
to wealth and title. She speaks of herself as a " white haired old woman," 
but she still has the energy and enthusiasm of a girl. She is the last 
survivor of 14 children. Mrs. Ellis gives this boiled down paragraph as to 
her children : 

" William R, is the County Attorney of Knox Co., Neb. He has a 
good wife and two bright boys. He is a copy of his uncle King, and succeeds 
in whatever he undertakes. Hattie Dennis lives in Iowa on a farm. She 
has a kind husband and four of the brightest kind of children. John has 
the Barnes penc/ian^ for the frontier, and has been in Montana for several 
years. Carrie lives with me, in Madison, Neb. Her husband is a shoe- 
maker, and does a good business. Her husband is Peter S. Olin, a Swede," 
Anna M. Ellis', d. at birth, Sept. 6, 1867. 

William Riley Ellis', b. Sept. 10, 1869. M. Edna Cooper. March 28, 1894. They 
have Leslie, b. Jan. i, 1896, and Paul Cooper, b. June 9, 1897. 

Harriet Ellis-Dennis', b. May 11, 1871. M. to Edgar Dennis, Dec. 8, 1889. They 
have Millie, b. July 6, i8gi, Stella, b. July 18, 1892, Gladys, b. Nov. 22, 1893, and Lily, 
b. March 31, 1898. 

John Samuel Ellis', b. Oct. 28, 1872 



232 ^be (Brecne family 

Curtis W. Eli.is^, a twin. He d. Aug. 23, 187S, aged 2 years. 

Carrie W. Ellis^, twin to Curtis. Born June 11, 1876. M. to Peter S. Olin, April 5, 
1S99. 
Gertie A, Ellis^, b. Jan. 21, 1S77, and d. July 24, 1879. 

JAMES RICHMOND G. BARNES', b. Oct. 26, 1840. Killed be- 
fore Petersburg, Va., June 9, 1864. Unmarried. Had Richmond lived, lie 
would have made his mark in the world. He was running over with mirth 
and wit, had a fine mind, and poetical talent. His first verses] were mostly 
clever squibs and parodies. After his effervescence of fun had worn off, he 
would doubtless have settled down to serious literary work, had he lived. 

He was a soldier in the Civil War. A favorite army amusement of his 
was to improvise rhyming letters, written as fast as the pen could travel. 
From a newspaper account of a raid, written by him, I give a single extract : 

" The way we scratched the gravel 

Was anything but slow ! 
* * * * 

The rain commenced to pour, 

And till ten o'clock that night 

We trod Pamunkey's shore, 

And were on the inarch next morning, 

At the dawning of the day.'' 

Poor boy ! His war experiences were soon over. 

At the attack on Petersburg, June 9, 1864, by a blunder, an impossible 
assault was ordered. Captain Ringland says, " it was a slaughter pen." The 
ofiicer refused to send men, but asked for volunteers. Only three men fol- 
lowed their lieutenant to what was certain death. " As they came up to the 
rifle pits," says the Captain, "Barnes' was the first foot planted upon the 
barricade. He was instantly killed." Later the Federals captured this 
outpost, and an officer and men were at once detailed to inter the brave 
soldier. His captain thus describes it. " They dug his grave with bayonets, 
and laid his body in a shallow grave. They left it to sleep upon the battle- 
field. * * * * -^e all mourn the loss of Barnes, with his cool deter- 
mination and intrepid heart. If I am to fall in defense of the Old Flag, I 
do not ask for a more honorable death than his." 

THEODOSIA ALMYRA BARNES^ a twin to Theodore Almyron 
who d. at 3 weeks. She was b. Aug. 10, 1843, ^^^^ ^- Oct. 25, 1858, in her 
1 6th year. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

DESCENDANTS OF MARIAM NICHOLS-BRADI^EY^ 

Family Trees. For descent from Alexander, first Lord de Greene 
de Boketon, A. D. 1202, and descent from the royal Capet line, A. D. 861, 
see Chapter XL For the old time history of King and La Valley families, 
see Chapter XXIL For all other lines, inclnding two of descent from John 
Greene of Onidnessett, Straight, Westcott, Nichols, Parsons, Hill, Waite, 
Wardwell, Lascelle, etc., see Chapter XXXII. 



Mariam Nichols', fourth daughter and eighth child of David and Nancy 
(Anna) Nichols, was born Jan. 26, 1801, in Rhode Island. Her parents 
moved to Pompey, N. Y., when she was but a few months old. Here she 
lived until middle life, when she came to New London, Ohio, where both 
she and her husband finally died. She died July 24, 1871. 

One of the playmates of her childhood, and her early lover, was a boy 
a few months older than herself. He was a native of jNIassachusetts, and 
his father had been a Revolutionary soldier. This Josiah Bradley was not 
born with a silver s^^oon in his mouth. He had his own way to make. 
Love, however, makes light hearts and willing hands, and January 3d, 
1820, the boy and girl lovers were married. She was just under nineteen, 
he a few months under twenty. Nearly a year after, by a singular coin- 
cidence, one of the greatest joys and one of the deepest sorrows of her life, 
came to her upon the same day. On the 22nd. of November, 1820, Darius, 
her first born, was laid in her glad arms, and on that same day, her good, 
patient, loving mother died. 

Five children were born to them, all of whom grew up. Josiah and 
Mariam Bradley were an industrious, thrifty couple. She was a perfect 
type of a quiet, mind-her-own-business woman, as neat as wax, and orderly 
in everything. In those days people did not expect a boy to sow his wild 
oats as a step toward getting on in life, nor did they expect a girl to prom- 
enade the streets while her mother was at home bending over the wash- 
tub. So the Bradley sons were early trained to work, and the Bradley 
daughters became as skilled housewives as their mother. 



233 



234 ^be (Brcenc family 

We never have heard the slightest whisper against Mariam Bradley. 
Her strong Christian faith and pains-taking disposition were exemplified by 
her last hours. She calmly specified all that she wished to have done after 
her decease, and arranged the details of her funeral, even to selecting the 
minister, the text for her memorial sermon, and the hymns that were to be 
sung. Her husband survived her many years, dying at a ripe old age. 

DARIUS BRADLEY^ Darius Bradley is an optimist. He has 
always looked on the bright side, and always will. He is a hale old gentle- 
man, now several years past eighty, doing the daily work of a usual man of 
fifty, and writes and talks as though but in his prime. Such a life points a 
moral. The man who keeps a young heart, who lives healthfully and con- 
tentedly, and goes without fuss or worry through the world, when he 
reaches the autumn of life, will find it a mellow Indian summer that retains 
the flowers of summer and adds them to the fruits of fall. 

At twent}--one, Darius married Hannah Merrifield. There is a touch of 
pathos in this record that he gives. — "I lived with Hannah sixty years and 
fifty-eight days," as though even the days were so precious that he would 
record them. Hannah Bradley was indeed a good woman. The one sor- 
row of their wedded life was their childless home. There was a bevy of 
pretty children at David Bradley's home, and^ the older brother and sister 
finally persuaded David and his wife to allow them to have Estella, one of 
that family, as their own. They gave her every advantage. She grew up 
an attractive young woman, and a fine musician. Estella is the wife of 
George IMorton, of Wellington, Ohio, and her foster father makes his home 
with her. She is an enthusiastic lover of art, and until her health failed 
gave much time to it. 

DAVID BRADLEY*. David Bradley was born in Pompey, N. Y., 
May 21, 1823. He married his brother Darius' sister-in-law, Polly Merri- 
field. Their entire married life was spent in New London, Ohio. David 
was a hard-working man, a good provider, and aftectionate in his 
famil}-. His good wife did all in her power to make a happy home. There 
was a large family, of which the girls were particularly fine looking. After 
being long unbroken, the family's ranks were thinned fast. In seventeen 
months, four of the family died. Ettie, a lovely girl, was first. Then 
the mother died. Louisa, the oldest married daughter, a young woman deai ly 
loved by her associates, was the next to go, and after her, Luella, the 
youngest child. Isadore (Mrs. Barnes), whose pretty ways and winsome 
girlhood we remember well, died in 1894, leaving six motherless little ones. 
Last of all the father died March 26, 1899. Over half the family have now 
passed away. 

Gertie Bradley, after her mother's death, took her place as housekeeper 



^be (3rcene Ifamil)? 235 

and home-maker for her father. A trimmer, neater, livelier little body than 
she no one need ever expect to see. She is a good sister as well as a good 
danghter. After Isadore's death, Gertie brought home Georgie , the baby 
boy, and tenderh- cared for him until his death in 1901. She is now living 
in Wellington, Ohio, with her sister, ]\Irs. Morton. 

The sons of this famih' are personally unknown to us. But they are 
said to be upright and respected citizens, with the Bradley trait of not being 
afraid to work. Alfred Bradley was a soldier in the Civil War. He is now 
a Master car and locomotive painter of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 
and lives at Washington, Indiana. 

Albert Newland Bradley®, b. Nov. 23, 1S45, at New London, Ohio. lie married 
Ella A, Gregory, June ii, 1S67. His two older children were by her. He married again^ 
Nov. 26, 1S70, to Ida Chapman, and by her has five children. 

David Albert Bradley**', b. March 30, 186S; d. Sept. 10, 1890. 
Fred. Bradleyi", b. Sept. 18, 1869. 

Maud May Bradlev-Porter*", b. Aug. 7, 1872. Married June 18, 1899, to W. 
L. Porter. 

Sadie Ellis Bradleyi", b. July 27, 1S74, at Pana. 111. 

William Edward Bradley^", b. Nov. . 

Nina Adaline Bradley'*', b. Jan. 16. 1886, at Cochran, Ind. 
Benjamin Harrison Bradley*", b. Oct. 10, 188S, at Cochran, Ind. 
James Erskine Bradley*. He is married, and has a family. He lives in Newark, 
N.J. 

Mary Louisa Bradley-Mathers^. She was married to D. T. P. Mathers. She 
died June 3. 1878, leaving one son, John A. 
Gertrude H. Bradley'®. 

Flora Estelle Bradley-Morton®. Married in La Grange, Indiana, to George 
Morton. No children. 

Isadore Marion Bradley-Barnes®. She was married June 14, 1878. to G. W. 
Barnes. She died in 1894, leaving Hugh, Vera, Glenn, May, Cecil and George W. The 
latter died Jan. 16, 1901, in his eighth year. 

Charles Lewis Bradley'®. He married Electra Bruce. They have Viola, b. in Oct. 
1886, Freemont and Willard. 

Etta Bradley®, died April 6, 1877. 
LuELLA Bradley®, died Sept. 23, 1878. 

WARREN BRADLEY®. He was a man well spoken of in all relations 
of life. He was a soldier in the Civil War. He was born in Sept., 1826, 
and died May 27, 1882, in Ohio. He married Ann Day. 

Ada Bradley-Call®. She lives in New London, O., and has a son Charles. 
Alice Br.\dley-Barrett®. She m. Ranson Barrett. Lives in New London. 
JosiAH Bradlky®, m. Noble. Lives in Grand Rapids, Mich. 

POLLY ANN (PAULINE) BRADLEY-SEGUR^ b. Oct. 15, 1828. 
Polly Ann, or as her husband calls her, Pauline, was married when but 
sixteen, to her cousin, Vernon King. Two children were born to them, 
one of whom died when a young man. Her marriage proved unhappy, 
and it was dissolved. Her second husband is Joseph Segur. They live in 
a pretty, well-kept home in New London, Ohio. Polly Ann is a capital 



236 Zhc 6reene Ifamili? 

housewife and has enough French about her to arrange everything in the 
most inviting way. She and her husband both have the knack of making 
a visitor feel at home. It was with this daughter that Josiah Bradley lived 
until his death. Her children's line is given in the Cynthia King chapter. 
It was her grandson's wife and two children that were burned to death in 
1902, as described in that chapter. But one of her sons lived to marry. 

SARAH ANN BRADLEY-HEMENWAY^ B. May 28, 1834. Died 
Jan. 26, 1904. Sarah Ann Bradley was one of those fortunate mortals in 
whose cup of life the wine was ever rich and sweet. She was married at 
twenty to Charles Hemenway, son of Daniel and ]\Iarinda Hemenway. He 
was born Nov. 24th, 1829, i^^ Massachusetts. Charles Hemenway was a fine 
man, a home-loving man, and what some would regard even more, a fin- 
ancially successful man. He used to be thrice busy with sawmills, brick-yards 
and much real estate to look after. He died in the summer of 1903 at Wel- 
lington, Ohio. His wife was first of all a faultless housekeeper. But she had 
leisure to indulge her love of the beautiful, and her husband encouraged her 
to do so. Nearly all who share the Greene blood retain the characteristic 
Greene love of nature, of trees and flowers. Now and then the old passion 
breaks out in full force. Sarah Hemenway was one of the Greene descend- 
ants whoseflowers were her meat and her drink. Rare plants were in her 
windows, beautiful flowers upon her lawn. Indoors was beautiful fancy 
work of ever^' kind, a collection of curios and blown glass, wax-work, and 
dainty bric-a-brac. 

William T.,^ their only son, was born Sept. 30, 1S55, and married Feb. i, 1SS2 to 
Addie Tripp. They live in Wellington, Ohio. They have two sons, George Courtland, b. 
Nov. 4, 1884, and Sidney Tripp, b. Nov. 3, 1888. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 

DESCENDANTS OF SAI,I.IE NICHOLS-LAMSOn' 

Family Trees. Her full pedigree, from Alexander, first Lord de 
Greene de Boketon, A. D. 1202; Robert the Strong, Duke de France, A. D. 
861; on the grandmother's side from John Greene of Ouidnessett, including 
descent from Capt. Thomas Straight, Stukeley Westcott, Elder Obediah 
Holmes and Hugh Parsons; on the grandfather's side from John Greene of 
Ouidnessett again, including Lascelle-Wardwell, Hill and Nichols descent; 
— also their King and La Valley pedigree from both father and mother of 
said Sallie Lamson, is given in Chapter XXXU. 



Sallie Nichols was born in Pompey, N. Y., Feb. 13, 1804. She died 
May 20, 1879. She was a quiet, even-dispositioned, home loving woman, and 
a sincere Christian. She was married in her 21st year to Peter Lamson, 
in Lorain, N. Y. He was the son of Jonathan and Ann Cobb Lamson, both 
of whom were Massachusetts people. His mother's family, the Cobbs, went 
back to nearly the first }'ears of New England settlement, and were noted 
for the number of clergymen in their ranks. 

The Lamsons were of English descent. Peter's ancestors are said to 
have lived in London at the time that city was visited by three great cal- 
amities in two successive years, — the Black Plague in 1665, that killed 
70,000 people, and the same dread disease again next year, killing 30,000 
more, but brought to a sudden end by the Great Fire of London in Septem- 
ber, 1666. Three days and nights the fire burned, destroying a third of the 
city. After this, the government, or as some sa\', the Colonial Emigration 
Society, chartered a ship and offered free passage to America to all able- 
bodied men and boys of the burnt district. The Lamsons have it handed 
down that one of their ancestors came over in this ship, and settled in 
Mass., late in 1666. We know that Sallie Lamson's great-great-grandfather, 
John King', came to Rhode Island in 1665, the sole survivor of a plague- 
destroyed family of London. It is a singular coincidence that the fore- 
parents of this couple should have landed in New England within a year of 

237 



238 ZTbe (Breene family 

each other, and that each should have owed his coming to the horrors that 
overlook London in 1 665-1 666. 

Sallie's husband was well thought of. There was plenty of Down- 
Eastern grit and moral backbone about him. He was honest and upright 
and so strong in his convictions that during the anti-slavery agitation, he 
cast one of the four sole abolition votes in Lagrange Co., Ind., his brother- 
in-law. Nelson Nichols, and his son-in-law, Ozias Wright, being two of the 
other three. Aside from his rock-ribbed principles, however, there was little 
of the New England granite in his make-up. He was brimful and boiling 
over with mirth. He was never blue or discouraged, though he commenced 
life with with no possessions beyond a pair of willing hands and a stout 
heart. 

Seven years after their marriage they moved to Sharon, Ohio. Be- 
lieving there was a better opening farther on, in the spring of 1834 Lam- 
son and his brother-in-law, Nelson Nichols, explored the whole of northern 
Indiana. "They took their foot in their hand," to use an Irish expression, 
passing through trackless forests, and around great swamps and quagmires, 
seeing many Indians, but meeting not a white man in all that time. In 
what is now Lagrange County they found land to their liking. The govern- 
ment had appointed a Land Office at Ft. Wayne, 40 miles away. A second 
trip on foot had to be made before they found the ofhce open. Theirs were 
the second entries in their county, and Nichols' the first in their township. 
The men then returned to Ohio. 

In the fall they returned, with Lamson's family. Two ox wagons held 
the household goods. Cows and other stock were driven through a road- 
less region, and through the dreaded Black Swamp, which was but 31 miles 
across, but took five days to cross. In the boggiest part but three miles 
were covered in two days' time. 

When they reached their destination they found that Henry Nichols, 
Mrs. Lamson's brother, was already there. Nichols' family of eight were 
living in a log cabin 16x16. There were eight of the newcomers, making 
a total of sixteen, one to each square foot of space; but tliey found a home 
for a time, somewhere and somehow, under that humble roof. Such 
were the struggles and hospitalities of our forefathers. 

An incident will show something of the conditions of the early settle- 
ments, and suggest a little of the romance of pioneer days. There was a 
Potto watomie Indian villag-e a few miles awav. It was surrounded bv larg^e 
old apple orchards. The seed of these trees had been planted by Jonathan 
Chapman, the famous "Apple-seed Johnny" of tradition. Before the Revolu- 
tionary War and for many years after, thishalf demented wanderer regularly 
appeared each fall at the Pennsylvania cider presses, and filled sacks full of 



J 



^be 6reene jTamil^ 239 

apple seeds which he carried off to the wilderness. Over the present territory'- 
of Ohio and Indiana, wherever he could find an open glade, there he 
planted his apple seeds. The Indians never molested him, as they be- 
lieved insane people under the special protection of the Great Spirit. The 
Indians were not slow to appreciate "Apple-seed Johnny's" gift when the 
apples began to fruit. 

This particular village was called ^longoquenong, which means the White 
Squaw. Peter Lamson had a faculty of getting on with the red man, and 
often let Indian hunters "sneap" (sleep) before his own fire. So with his wife 
he visited Mongoquenong, he to visit the orchards, she to see the famed 
'■'White Squaw" that had given name to the settlement. The Indians loaded 
their good friend with apple grafts and with fruit, and Sallie Lamson was 
taken to see the white Indian. Seated on the ground in her wigwam, 
her grey hair hanging down in two long braids, and a blanket wrapped 
around her in Indian fashion, was an old woman, blue eyed and fair skin- 
ned. In a foray upon the whites she had been captured, and adopted into the 
tribe when an infant. All through the border states a report had gone forth 
of a white Indian. Once a brother presented himself, and through an in- 
terpreter asked her to return with him to her kindred. But she refused to 
leave her Indian husband and sons and lived and died with her adopted 
people. Soon after their visit the White Squaw was taken ill. The 
Indian doctors stripped her to her waist and stretched her before a fire with 
her naked back to the blaze to roast the disease out. She died under this 
heroic treatment. 

Peter Lamson died in July, 1846. There had been a land transaction 
between he and a neighbor, and a trifling irregularity gave the grasping 
neio;hbor a chance to harass the widow. Lawsuit after lawsuit he 
brought ao-ainst her. Having secured in some wav a hold, he ser\^ed 10- 
days' execution on her land at the beginning of wheat har^-est. In pioneer 
davs ready money in a lump sum was hard to get hold of, and by rushing 
it through in this way he hoped to get her land for himself at a third of its 
value. The widow was a favorite with her kindred. The\- rallied to her 
assistance and told her persecutor that they would pay the amount, how- 
e\'er unjust, as soon as their harvest was over and the grain marketed. He 
refused to give them a day's time. 

Her young-er brother, Nelson Nichols, at once left his harvest with hired 
hands, and set out on foot for Sharon, Ohio, 200 miles away, as there was 
no public conveyance. He reached there after night fall on the fourth day. 
John Nichols, Sallie's wealthy brother at Sharon, advanced the money, and 
at daybreak the next day the younger brother started back, getting home 
at the close of the eighth day, but in time to save the sister's land. In- 



240 Zbc (Breene Jfainil^ 

cidents like these show that the pioneer's path was not all roses, and that 
there were rascals in those days as well as now. 

Some years after the widow married Rev. William Hall and remo\'ed 
to Iowa, where she died, May 20, 1879. Her children were all by her first 
husband. Her only surviving sons were in the Civil War, and her only two 
grandson*; old enough to see ser\'ice, also were in the war, and both died 
for their country. Although she had a large family, her descendants have 
been few. 

THERESA LAMSON-WRIGHT^ 1825-1853. Died at 28. She 
was the wife of Ozias Wright. Her brother says that none of her kindred 
ever saw her ruffled or angry, so serene was her nature. 

JANE LAMSON-PERCELL', b. May 12, 1826; died July 13, 1882. 
She was married Dec. 8, 1844, to W^illiam Percell, who was born Dec. 19, 
1S22, in N. Y. They spent the whole of their wedded life in Michigan. 
Jane as a child, a girl and a woman, faced pioneer hardships and privations. 
She was ambitious and hard-working, and lived to see a good home in what 
had been a wilderness. Her latter life was saddened by the untimely death 
of her two older sons, scarcely half grown-lads, both of whom died in the 
terrible Civil War that made wreck of so many homes. 

Francis William Percell', b. April 17, 1846. Went into the army at 15. Died at 
Campbell Hospital, Washington, D. C, on March 3, 1863, in his 17th year. 

John Calvin Percell', b. Nov. 25, 1848. Enlisted at 15. Died from homesickness, 
at Huntsville, Alabama, Feb. 28, 1864, aged 15 years, 3 months and 3 days. 

Henry Percell', b. Jan. 8, 1852. He married Belle Burt, Sept. 14, 1871. They live 
on the old Percell homestead. 

Carrie Percell-Garner^", b. Jan. 3, 1S73. Wife of Went Garner. One daughter, 
Bessie, b. Nov. 28, 1903. 

John Percell'", b. July 31, 1874. Married Maud Davis, Jan. 13, 1898. One 
dau.. Irene, b. Sept. 19, 1S98. 

Charles Percell'"' b. Oct. 2, 1876. M. Lottie Elligot in 1900. 
Mary Percell-Brown'", b. Nov. 4, 1878. M, to Harley Brown. They have 
Charles, b. Sept. 14, 1898, Nellie, b. Aug. 4, 1900, Cassie, b. June 2, 1902. and 
Louise, b. Nov. 16, 1903. 

William Percell'", b. March 22, 1883. 
Julia Theresa Percell', 1853-54. D. at 10 months. 
George Curtis Percell', 1857. D. in infancy. 

Belle Percell-Slanker', b. June iS, 1859. M. to Samuel Blanker. They live in 
Stanton, Mich. Her husband was a teacher for many years. 

Bertha Slanker-Grill'", b. Jan. 3, 1876, and m. to Allen Grill in 1S93. Their 
children are Hazel Lucile, b. Dec. 3, 1898, and Mabel, b. Mar. 7, I901. 

Theresa Slanker-Stroudt^", b. July 31, 1877; m. to Eli Stroudt in 1895. Their 
children are Letha Belle, b. Aug. 7, 1896, Lyle Edmond, who died at 15 months, and 
Eunice Ethel, b. June 26, igoi. 

Gertrude Slanker-Kinsman'", b. Nov. 17, 1882; m. to Jay Kinsman in 1903. 

J. Lee Blanker'", b. and d. in 1889. 

Raymond H. Blanker'", b. Nov. 13, 1892. 



^be (Breenc Jfainil^ 241 



JUDGE JOHN COBB LAMSON^ b. Nov. 29, 1827. Left an or- 
phan in his teens, the oldest son in a large family, and in a new country, 
he had to literally make his way. He studied, starved and economized, 
worked and taught, and pushed himself through Oberlin College and the 
Law Department of Albany (N. Y.) University. Under Lincoln' s first call 
he joined the 17th Indiana Infantry and served four years and four months 
in the Civil War, coming out with the rank of Captain. In 1866 he located 
at Pineville, Mo., and engagd in the practice of law. Here he was success- 
ively elected County School Commissioner, Representative, Prosecuting 
Attorney and Judge of the Twenty-fourth District. He is the largest tax- 
payer in his county, and can truthfully say that not a penny of his fortune 
has been built upon speculation, or get rich schemes. 

At 45 he married Lois A. Santley, of Ohio. She is of English and 
Virginia parentage, and is a woman of more than ordinary ability. On the 
English side, she can boast of what few people on the globe can claim — 
kindred blood to Shakespeare. Remembering his own early struggles, in 
the last quarter of a century the Judge and his wife have taken into their 
home not less than a dozen deserving young men and women, and helped 
them to get an education and to make something of themselves. 

BELLE (ARABELLE) LAMSON-GUERNSEY^ was b. June 5, 
1831. April 17, 1852, she married Curtis Guernsey. Her husband was 
for some years a merchant in Freeport, O., and then for 19 years lived in 
Kansas. They are now living in Fostoria, O. The Guernseys are intel- 
ligent, whole souled people that it is a pleasure to know. 

John Peter Guernsey^, d. at 8 years of age. 

Charles L. Guernsey^ b. Jan. 31, 185S. Married Malina C. Brown on his 22d 
birthday. He lives in Fostoria, O., and is a successful lawyer with a large practice. 
Ethel Guernsey'", b. Jan. 3, 18S2. 
Charles A. Guernsey'", b. July 17, 18S4. 
Marion Bernice Guernsey'", b, Feb. 28, 1886. 
Curtis Guernsey'", b. May 17, 18S8. 
John Philip Guernsey'", b. April 29, 1891; d. in 1892. 
Carrie Cleora Guernsey-Warner^, b. Aug. 19, 1S64, and d. June 16, 1900. She 
was the wife of N. Warner, and spent all of her wedded life in Kansas. Her death was a 
grief from wiiich her parents have never recovered. Her energy and vim was wonderful. 
She was housekeeper, book-keeper for the firm with which her husband was connected, and 
was a musician and a church-worker. She left no children. 

FRANCIS LAMSON^ h. in 1833, and d. at 6 weeks. 

FRANKLIN LAMSON', 1834-1850. Died at 16. 

MARILDA FOSTER LAMSON-WIREBAUGH', b. Nov. 22, 1837. 
She was the second daughter of this name, as a sister born 6 years 
before her had borne the name of Marilda F. during her short life. Rilla 
inherited her father's wit and liveliness. She was a teacher for more than 
20 years. Aug. 20, 1877, ..she married Nicholas Wirebaugh. They live at 



242 ^be (Brccne jfamili? 

Prairie Depot, O. I learn from others that Mr. Wirebaugh is liberal toward 
religious and educational objects, and has several times made gifts to them 
which requires four figures to express the amount. 

BETSEY MIRANDA LAMSON^ A most estimable young lady. 
Died at Pearce City, Iowa, in 1866. 

HUBERT THRACEA LAMSON^ b. June 3, 1841. Married Emily 
Fanning, July i, 1868. Hubert T. is a man fond of reading, of travel, and 
of the companionship of his friends. His wife is a cherry, active little 
body, who will never let things stagnate about her. Their home is in 
Girard, Kansas. 

John Lamson^, b. Nov. 2, 1870. M. Winne Reese, Sept. 3, 1901. They have one son. 
They live in Kansas. 

Mary Lamson-Grove*, b. Dec. 2, 1S73. M. to Frank Grove, Aug. 16, 1894. They 
are living at Jamestown, N. Y. She has had two children, one of whom died. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

DESCENDANTS OF GEORGE W. NICHOLS^ 

Family Trees. For descent from the first Lord de Greene de Boke- 
ton, A. D. 1 202, and descent from Robert the Strong, Duke de France, A. 
D. 861, see Chapter XL 

For full particulars of descent from John Greene of Ouidnessett, through 
Lieutenant James'-, including lineage from Hugh Parsons, Elder Obediah 
Holmes, Capt. Thomas Straight and Stukeley Westcott see Chapter XX. 
For particulars of descent from John Greene though Lieut. John", including 
lineage from the Wardwells, Hills and Nicholses, see Chapter XV. King 
and La Valley descent will be found in Chapter XXH. A summing up of 
all is found in Chapter XXXH. 

Albro Descent (of wife) is this: "Quaker John" Alburro or Al- 
iDorough, of Portsmouth, R. L, was the first. The name soon became Albro. 
He d. in 171 2 at 96. Hon. John Albro", Assistant President of Providence 
Plantations. His wife was ]\Iary Stokes. SamueP, who m. Ruth Lawton; 
Rev. SamueP, who m. Jane Cole; Samuel'', who m. Sarah Conves; James*^, 
whose daughter was Eunice, the w4fe of George Nichols. Eunice died in 
1902, aged 86. 



George Washington Nichols'', was born about 1809, ^"^ married Eunice 
Albro about 1833. He died March 21, 1839. They had but three children, 
Sarah, born March 2, 1834, John Convass, born Aug. 9, 1835, and Juliette, 
next younger, who died in the spring of 1839 in her third year. George's 
wife was but 1 7 at the time of her marriage. She was a cousin and name- 
sake of the elder Job King's wife, whose son Henry married Cynthia, 
George Nichols' sister. This brought about a double relationship between 
the familes of George Nichols and Cynthia Nichols-King. In the fall of 
1835, the young couple with their two small children, moved to northern 
Indiana, where several others of George's family soon afterwards followed 
them. At that time, however, the only white inhabitants were the families 
of Henry Nichols and Sally Nichols-Lamson, and a single brother. Nelson 
Nichols. All the hardships of pioneer life fell to their lot. 

243 



244 ^^^ Greene Jfamil^ 

111 the fall and winter of 1838-9, a strange epidemic swept the country. 
Eight of the Nichols relatives died. George Nichols wore himself out tak- 
ing care of the rest, then sickened and died. The youngest child soon fol- 
lowed her father. The disheartened widow sold out and returned to the 
East with her remaining children, Sarah and John. 

Eleven years later Mrs. Nichols married David Lake. Sometime after 
her mother's marriage, Sarah married Jackson Leighty. Mr. Leiglit)- died 
in 1865. Sarah married Samuel Miller for her second husband, and is again 
a widow. She had two sons by her first husband. Emmett Leighty was 
an engineer, and was killed in a railroad wreck. Frank Leighty married 
and has children. 

JOHN CONVASS NICHOLS". The marriages of his mother and 
sister broke up the home ties of the son, John Convass Nichols. He drifted 
back to Indiana, and became an inmate of his uncle Nelson Nichols' familv. 
October 8th, 1863, he enlisted in Company C. of the 129th Indiana Infantry, 
and served during the rest of the Civil War. It showed his patriotism. For 
from an injury received when a child, his left arm was shortened, and he 
could never have been forced into service. 

In 1866 he removed to Douglass Co., Minnesota, then just opened to 
settlement. The rude fort or stockade and soldiers' barracks were still 
standing, and cellars and heaps of rubbish marked where the adventuresome 
settlers before them had been massacred by Sioux Indians, and their homes 
burned. However, the new-comers were not molested, and the country 
was soon thickly settled. Oct. nth, 1868, John C. Nichols was married to 
Jane McKibben. He was thirty-three, she fifteen and a half. As this was 
the first of three marriages between our family and the McKibbens, a par- 
agraph about them may be of interest. 

About one hundred years ago a family by the name of Jennings came 
into that part of Illinois commonly nick-named Egypt from the abundance 
of its corn. This family has of late years acquired prominence because one 
of its scions, William Jennings Bryan, has twice been candidate for the pres- 
idency. A daughter of this house married Francis Stanley, a brother of 
the man who brought up the celebrated African Explorer, Henry M. Stan- 
ley, and whose name the explorer adopted. 

Among these Jennings-Stanley children were two daughters, Mary and 
Lucinda. They married two brothers, Zebulon and Henry McKibben. 
Zebulon McKibben died in the army. His widow with her double brother- 
in-law and his family, came to Brandon, Minnesota, and took up a home- 
stead. John C. Nichols married one of the Widow McKibben's twin 
daughters. John Emerson of the Barnes-Emerson line, married Addie, the 
youngest daughter, and Amasa Pierce of the Stephen Pierce line, married 



Zbc 6rccne family 245 

Martha, the double cousin of the other two, making a triple tie between 
our families. 

Jane McKibben-Nichols measures up to the standard of our family- 
tradition as to what is required of our Janes. Her doors are open to all of 
the kin, and she delights in doing all in her power for her own. John C. 
himself is a man deeply attached to his own fireside. One special incident is 
a pleasure for us to record. When the widow of the uncle with whom he had 
so long had a home, came to ^Minnesota to stay for a time with her 
children, he insisted on being considered as a son, and his aunt and little 
cousin — the author — spent the entire winter of 1869-70 at his hospitable 
home. He has by industry and economy secured a competency. They now 
reside upon a prairie farm near Holmquist, South Dakota. They have a 
large family of daughters, but only one son, the youngest of all. 

Mary Eunice Nichols, the first-born, was a favorite child. Love, that 
comes to all, came to Mary in the first flush of womanhood. David Parks, her 
sweetheart, was not liked by her parents. When all remonstrances were of 
no avail, her father gave a reluctant and bitter consent to theii marriage. 
Poor Mary, that had scarcely known what a care was, became the mother 
of more children in a gi\'en length of time than anv other woman men- 
tioned in this book. Her health failed. She died at twenty-eight, leaving 
nine children of whom the youngest was six weeks old, and the oldest but 
eleven years of age. Her last wishes were that her people might have an 
oversight over her little ones, and that her sister Julia would raise the 
youngest two children. 

Her husband, however, could not forget old grievances. He kept Wit- 
hue, Lucy and Ray, the three older children. Ada was given to his wife's 
uncle, J. McKibben, The other five were given away to strangers. James 
was given to a family that moved to the state of Washington. Minnie and 
Reuben were given to a family that moved to Montana. The two smallest 
ones had both their Christian and surnames changed. One of these was 
adopted by a Methodist minister, the other by a Bristol, South Dakota, 
man. All this has been a great grief to this family, as it has wiped out 
half Mary's descendants from all connection with their line. 

Four more of their daughters are married. Alice is ]\Irs. Swanson, 
Sarah is Mrs. Burg, Elsie, Mrs. Faulkner, and Alyrta is Mrs. Lake. All 
of them live reasonably near their parents, the farthest but ten miles away. 
Julia, Grace, Josie, Frankie and John S. are yet at home. 

Mary Eunice Nichols-Parks", b. Aug. 2. 1869. Wife of David Parks. Died Dec. 
23, 1897. 

Withue Parksi", b. Aug. 26, 1886. 
Lucy Parksi", b. Oct. 8, 18S7. 
Ray Parksi", b. Feb. 28, 1889. 



246 



ZTbe (Brccne ffaniil^ 



Given away. Lost to the family. 



Ada Parksi", b. Oct. 7, 1890. 

James Parks'*^, b. Marcli 5, 1S92. 

Minnie Parks^", b. July 7, 1S93. 

Reuben Parks^", b. Nov. 20, 1894. 

Sarah Parks^", b. June 23, 1896. 

John Parks^°, b. Nov. 10, 1897. 
Alice Nichols Swanson', b. July 16, 1S71. M. to Ole Swanson of South Dakota, 
March 26, 1890, 

John Swanson'^, b. Jan. 9, 1890. 

Hannah Swanson^", b. Feb. 17, 1892. 

Maggie Swanson^", b. Aug. 4, 1893. 

Albro Swanson^", b. Jan. 4, 1895. 

Hendricks Swanson^", b. Feb. 9. 1897. 

Evarts Swanson^", b. July 24, 1899. 
Juliette Nichols^, b. July 16, 1873. 
Sarah Nichols-Burg^, b. May 26. 1876; m. to Henry Burg, Feb. iS, 1896. 

John Nicholas Burg'*', b Jan. 8, 1897. 

Arthur Biirgi" b. Aug. 8, 189S. 

Florence Burg^'^, b, March 8, 1900 

Perry Edward Burg'", b. May 4, 1902. 
Myrta Nichols-Lake^, b. in Feb. , 1S78: m, to her cousin, George Lake, April 
27, 1901. 

Hazel Irene Lake''', b. July 10, 1902. 
Elsie Nichols-Faulkner', b. July 31, 1880. M. to Lur Faulkner, June 23, 1899. 

Edith Faulkner'", b. Feb. 9, 1900. 
Grace Nichols'. 

Perry Nichols', d March 2, 1885; aged 12 days. The first son. 
JosiE Nichols', b. Aug 9. 1886. 
Frankie Nichols', b. March 24 1888. 
John Emmett Nichols', nth and youngest child, and only living son, b. July 19, 1897. 



CHAPTER XL 

DESCENDANTS OF NELSON NICHOLS^. 

Family Trees. For descent from royal Capet line from A. D. 86i, 
and descent from Sir Alexander, first Lord de Greene de Boketon, see Chapter 
XL For lineage from John King and Peter La Valley, see Chapter XXII. 
For all other descent, including two lines of Greene, Waite, Hall, Lascelle, 
Wardwell, Straight, Westcott, Holmes, Parsons and Nichols, see Chapter 
XXXII ; also Chapters XV and XX and Appendix. 



[xA-ll who read this chapter aie warned to make full allowance for my 
partiality. There is not an intentional over-statement in it. I always be- 
lieved my father and mother to be remarkable people, and my brothers and 
sisters to be the salt of the earth. I have probably been too enthusiastic. I 
freely acknowledge this. I am thankful that those nearest and dearest to 
me are good enough and wise enough that I dare enthuse over them. — L. S. L.] 



Nelson Irvine Nichols'' was the youngest of a family of twelve, half of 
whom were grown at his birth. Years after his death, a cousin of his said 
this of him : " We were always proud of Nelson. He was good looking, 
bright and keen, and had a moral record as clean as any woman's. On 
Sundays he used to look as though he stepped out of a band-box, so spruce 
was he in his broadcloth and beaver. But he was not afraid of work, and 
always had an eye out to the main chance." To this we may add that he 
had his mother's even disposition. With strangers he was still-tongued, but 
amongf his friends he was boilin^ over with life and merriment. 

In February, 1831, this young man of nineteen came with his father's 
family to Sharon, Ohio. Three years later he went to Indiana, then newly 
opened to settlement, and opened up a farm near the present town of Wol- 
cottville. In due time he returned to Ohio after his bride, and on January 
23d, 1837, was married to Kezia Waltman. 

She was of this ancestry : Her great-great grandfather was Valentine 



217 



24^ ^be (Brccne family 

Waltman of Germany, who married Barbara, the heiress and last of the line 
of a family of barons. The second son, Valentine, eloped with his wife, 
Miss Bierly, crossed the ocean and settled in Pennsylvania. Their son John 
served in the Revolutionary War. To this John and his proud little wife, 
Anna Alarie Marguerite, (Surface,) was born, in 1790, a son named Valen- 
tine, and this son married Achsa, daughter of Andrew and Rebecca Wilson. 

Achsa Wilson- Waltman's maternal uncles won in the Revolutionary 
War the title of " The three fighting Colonel McLanes." One of the uncles. 
Major Allen McLane, rose to high distinction under General Wayne and 
General Henry Lee. These Scotch-Irish McLanes suffered great loss during 
the war, the British laying waste their estates near Philadelj)hia in reprisal. 
The mother of the " fighting McLanes " withstood them to the last, throw- 
ing it in their teeth as her houses burned, that her sons were making great- 
er havoc for them than all the injury the British could do to her. Hearing 
of her distress, one of the sons returned to aid her. She quickly sent him 
back to his command, tersely telling him she could look after herself, and 
expected him to attend to the fighting. 

Kezia, oldest daughter of Valentine and Achsa Waltman, was born Oct. 
8th, 1814, at Huntington, Luzerne Co., Pa. She was said to resemble her 
resolute Revolutionary grandmother in both looks and disposition. She was 
beautiful, fair as a lily, with eyes and hair as dark as midnight. She never 
lost her birth-right of good looks. At eighty, her eyes were as bright as 
ever, her cheeks pink, and her fair skin almost transparent in its whiteness. 
Her brain was quick, her memory astonishing. At tweh-e years of age she 
could repeat Milton's Paradise Lost and Young's Night Thoughts, word for 
word. She often said that if the Bible were blotted out of existence, that 
with the exceptions of the genealogical tables, she could write it again from 
memory. 

All of her life, Kezia was eccentric in many of her way. She never 
did anything because others did it. She was absolutely independent in her 
thinking. She believed in progress, and as thoroughly disbelieved in the 
old hide-bound ".woman's sphere " beliefs. She had the honor of being one 
of the pioneers among western women teachers. About this time also, she 
completed a volume of verse of merit, which she would never allow to be 
printed. 

It was this radical but winning teacher that Nelson Nichols fell in love 
with, won from many competitors, and married. He never lost his faith in 
her goodness, or admiration for her talents. After 28 years of wedded life, 
when death faced him, he could not bear to have her out of his sight. By 
his side she went with him to the very brink of the grave, and for 31 years 
after remained in widow-hood, true to his memory. All of their married 



^be (Brccnc ffaniili? 249 

life was sj^ent on their farm at Wolcottville, Indiana. Nelson had all the 
Greene love for well-kept premises, and his husbandry showed in orderly- 
fields and meadows, orchards and woodland. Kezia's yard contained more 
flowers and more rare plants than any other home in the township, if not in 
the county. Here their nine children were born, six of whom, Fernando, 
Attie, Valentine, John, Nancy and Lora, lived to grow up and become heads 
of other families. Besides these, two orphan nephews, John Lamson and 
John C. Nichols, and an orphan neice, Rachel Nichols, had their home with 
their uncle and aunt, and were considered full members of the family. 

It was pleasant in after years for their children to recall the high moral 
ground their parents took. The Nichols' home w^as one of the regular sta- 
tions of the famous Underground Railway of anti-slavery days, harboring 
escaped slaves and anti-slavery agitators. Nelson had the courage to vote 
the Abolition ticket when but four such votes were cast in the count}'. His in- 
fluence is seen, in that all three of his sons and his two adopted nephews, 
fousfht in the Civil War for the Union. The last time he ever left his room 
he was carried to the polls to cast a vote for Abraham Lincoln's second term. 

Kezia Nichols was never so busy that she could not do Christian work, 
encourage the weak or fallen, or care for the sick and the poor. To the 
last, it was never too muddy or cold for her to meet her Sunday school class, 
and at ei^htv she was still an angel of mercv at the bedside of the sick. 
When her last day dawned upon earth, the w^atchers at her bedside caught 
the faint words — " Thy will be done ! " and Kezia Nichols had crossed to 
the Great Beyond. She died Dec. 3d, 1895, and was buried in Pineville, ]\Io. 

Her eighty years of life 

Were spent in doing good ; 
By deeds she proved her faith 

In liuman brotherhood. 

Death came and breathed his icy chill 
Just where our Mother's footsteps trod ; 

Her throbbing heart grew cold and still — 
Her work is done. She rests with God. 

— Mrs. S/owe. 



Their children were these : 

Fernando, b. Jan. 20, 1838. 

Maranda, b. Sept. i, 1839 , d. Oct. 7, 1839. 

Almira, b. Nov. 27, 1841 ; d. Sept. 30, 1858. 

Attie A., b. Oct. 30, 1843. 

Valentine David, b. Oct. 26, 1845. 

John Joel, b. Sept. 13, 1848. 



250 ^be (Brecne jfamil^ 

Nancy Theresa, b. Dec. 14, 1850. 

Myron, b. Nov. 14, 1S53 '■> ^- ^^t. 10, 1861. 

Lora Sarah, b. April 2, 1857. 

As might have been expected with parents of such marked personality, 
their children presented diverse temperaments. A waggish relative once 
gave " character " names to them, which were so pat that they ha\'e come 
down in a sub-rosa way to this hour. Attie, dignified, and faultlessly cor- 
rect in her manners, was The Duchess ; Nannie, whose keen e}-e took in 
every detail, and who wanted everything done precisely right, was In- 
spector General; Valentine was Tine the Good; his younger brother 
was Happy-go-lucky John ; Fernando was The Singed Cat. The ref- 
erence was to a cat which had been scorched and bore a rough and touzled 
coat in consequence, but could out-mouse and out-rat any of his slick breth- 
ren. The allusion was plain to anyone who ever saw Fernando Nichols 
arise in church — necktie knotted under his ear, and his hastily-pulled-on 
coat sagoringr six different wa\'s at once — and deliver a red-hot talk that set 
everyone aquiver to get into church or Sunday school work instanter. 

FERNANDO NICHOLS'. His children are all of them successful 
and respected, and all are fortunate in their home ties, " Our children are 
every one a comfort to us," says their mother, and their father, as though 
something was left unsaid, adds this unusual testimony, — "All of mv chil- 
dren-in-law are pure gold, also." 

So Fernando Nichols has a right to be called a successful man, although 
with all his industry he has never accumulated material riches. His fortune 
has been in his family. January 22, 1859, he married his second cousin, 
IMary Jane Cady, whose genealogy is given in Chapter XXIX. 

The curious family superstition that every Jane among them would be 
a care-taker of the friendless or infirm among her connection, reached high- 
water mark confirmation in her case. Her father and mother died within 
six weeks of each other. For a time the orphans lived at the old King home 
in New York, a perfect nest of old bachelor uncles and old maid aunts. Then 
their Aunt Debbie (Deborah) took the children with her to Indiana, and here 
Jane married. The only other one of her family, her brother Edgar, came 
to live with her, and her house is yet his home. The aunts and uncles be- 
came too old to live by themselves. Good Jane, that never lost her grati- 
tude, that never tired of them, took care of them all, of feeble Uncle John, 
infirm Uncle Svlvester and childish Aunt Debbie, who at the last had to be 
waited on as a babe. Jane never paraded as a martyr ; she never thought 
herself a saint ; she was too busy patching, cooking and sweeping to take a 
leading part in church or mission work. But the Master who counts the cups 
of cold water given in His name will surely give her the reward of her deeds. 



^be (Breene ffamil^ 251 

Fernando Nichols has lived in Indiana, New York, North Dakota and 
Tennessee, and is now at Warren, Arkansas. He has always worked for the 
betterment of the communitv in which he has lived. He is a Deacon in the 
clnirch. Not one christian in a thonsand is as efficient and tireless a worker 
in the church as he. He is an ideal, up-to-date Sunday school superintend- 
ent. His speeches are short, crisp, sawed-off right in the middle, but they 
hit the mark ever\' time. His praj-ers are earnest, brief, face-to-face peti- 
tions that touch the most indift'erent. He spends no time seeking a mission, 
but does the work nearest his hand, and does it with all his might. He has 
five living children, 

INIinnie (]\Irs. Rose,) is a fine woman, in her traits happily combining 
the best characteristics of both her father and mother. 

Charles has one of the kindest hearts that ever beat in mortal frame. 
Quiet and still-tongued. he is like his mother's people. His wife was a re- 
porter before her marriage. 

Allen G. Nichols is the printer son. He has done much reportorial 
work, and has made a specialty of fraternal writing, particularly of that per- 
taining to the Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias orders, in which he has 
risen to high rank for so young a man. He wields a \'igorous political 
pen also, and was rewarded for his political services by the position of 
Collector of Customs, at Sabine Pass, Texas. He was here when the dreadful 
Galveston Flood swept hundreds of homes and human beings into the ocean's 
waters. A perverseness of fate dogged this young man, to which he alluded, 
upon his recent removal to Los Angeles, California, after this manner : 

" I am a builder of houses for fires to burn and floods to wash away. 
What with fires, floods and hurricanes, I am in the position of the man who 
had that taken from him that he seemed to have. The only things I have 
left are the sweetest wife and the two finest children on earth, a wrecked 
nervous system, and a determination to build me up another home." 

Harry E. is siii generis. A letter from him is a treasure. Something 
like his father's pra^^ers, it begins without a beginning, and ends without an 
ending. He jumps right into the middle of what he is interested in, and 
goes after it, up and down, tooth and toe-nail, hip and thigh, but the interest 
never lags. We gratefully acknowledge that this indefatigable digger, who 
plunged into old books, dry official records and out-of-the-way references, 
has helped the making of this history materially. He is a postal clerk on 
the Iron Mountain R. R., and lives in St. Louis, Mo. 

Eddie F., born in 1880, proved himself in his teens an exceptional stu- 
dent, and has already given good earnest of being as exceptional a business 
man. He is honest, quick, steady and tireless. Already he holds the im- 
portant position as manager of a certain territory for a large lumber company. 



252 tTbc (Brecne yainil^ 

Fernando's table of descendants is this : 

Nelson Nichols^, born dead, Dec. i6, 1859. 

Mary Lincoln Nichols^ b. May 18, 1861 ; d. Jan. 14, 1863. 

Minnie O. Nichols-Rose^, b. May 15, 1866; m. to Wilber Rose at Jamestown, N. D., 
March g, 1886. Their first child, Charles Wilbur, was born April 12, 1887. Their sec- 
ond son. Clifford Allen, died .May 25, i8go, aged 14 months. They live at Warren. Ark. 

Charles Dicklnson Nichols^, b. Jan. 24, 186S ; m to Bernice Bennett, Nov. 3, 1890, 
at Jamestown, N. D. They have Henry F., b. Dec. 17, 1895, and Ruth. b. Oct. 6, 1900. 

Allen George Nichols^, b. Dec. 5, i86g. Married Emma S. Reichmann, Nov. 3, 
1892. They have two children, Harry George, b. Oct. 17, 1894, and Gladys, b. April 21, 
iSgg. 

Mary E. Nichols', b. June 10, 1871 ; d. Aug. 17, 1871, aged 10 weeks. 

Cora Nichols^, b. July 25, 1873. Died the next day. 
Harry Elton Nichols^, b. Aug. 12, 1874 ; m. Clara Delhi. They have one daughter, 
Marjory D., b. Jan. 2, igoo. 

Edgar Fkrnando Nichols*, b. Sept. 22, iSSo. M.June 11,1903,10 Ida Godwin, o 
Oakdale, La. They live in Louisiana. 

ATTIE A. NICHOLS-STOWE' will not allow us to say as much 
about her as we would like. She puts a special bar upon us as to her poet- 
ical efforts. We submit the more cheerfully that her stanzas interspersed 
through this book are her own best interpreters. If anyone can read them 
and not believe her a woman of intellectual power and high ideals, our words 
would be idle. 

Mrs. Stowe is dignified, self-controlled and well-poised. Her affections 
are true as steel to her own. She holds life as a sacred trust, and believes it 
a duty to make the world happier and wiser by all possible efforts. She 
must allow us to use this poem of hers, written when her heart was sad, and 
when the world seemed to her to have passed by and forgotten her. It shows 
how free from envy or sordid littleness are the impulses of her heart. 

Because another's muse 

Gives her a sweeter lav, 
Shall I, then, dare refuse 

The words mine bids me sav ? 

Because another paints 

With touch and skill more free, 
Shall I hold in restraints 

The talent God gave me ? 

Because another's path 

Seems brighter far to me, 
Dare I a.ssume God's wrath ? — 

Refuse His love to see ? 

Because another's work 

Lies in the focus light 
Of fame, dare I to shirk 

jNIy duty to the right ? 



^be Greene jTamii^ 253 



Because some other mind 

Received the talents ten, 
Shall I, with envy blind, 

Hide me in darkest den? 

No ; let me rather ask 

God's blessing on my one ; 
If I do well my task, 

I'll liear Him say, "Well done." 
— A. A. Siotve. 

Mrs. Stowe has done good descriptive work for Collier's Weekly and 
Leslie'' s Monthly^ and various other magazines. Her best work is in verse, 
however, and of this her patriotic poems are probabh- the best. Her work 
rings true, because she puts her heart in it, and writes only what she feels. 

Attie A. Nichols was married in 1863 to Fletcher H. Noble, her second 
cousin on her mother's side. He lived but a few years. Nattirally restless, 
and always seeking a region where his health would improve, they moved 
from point to point in Ohio, Indiana, INIichigan and Minnesota. Three 
children were born to them, Myia and Clara in Indiana, and Ralph in ]\Iin- 
nesota. Little Clara died early. Ralph, restless as his father, wandered from 
state to state. In Colfax, Washington, he married Effie Benton. March, 1891, 
and in November of the same year he died, leaving a widow of seventeen. 
Five months after his death a posthumous child was born, who was named 
Ralph for the father he had never seen. 

INIyra, the remaining child of the first marriage, has unfortunately been 
handicapped all her life by inherited disease, but is growing stronger as the 
years pass by. She married Ernest E. Everett, October, 1886, and has been 
the mother of five children, all of whom are dead. She is living now in 
flower-environed Pasadena, California. 

Attie A. married for her second husband. Captain Martin Stowe. He 
was born at Princeton, Mass., 1830. He had a brave war record and was a 
man of distinction in every way. He was magnetic, polished, large-brained, 
and had traveled extensively in South America and the U. S. He had made 
two large fortunes and lost them, only to make a third. After his marriage 
he became a merchant. He represented his district in the Minnesota legis- 
lature several terms. ts\\ their children were born in Brandon, Minnesota. 
He moved to Hailey, Idaho, in 1882, and in mining operations again became 
embarrassed. Before his usual g-ood fortune returned to him, his health fail- 
ed. His plucky wife stepped into the breach, and put her scholarship to 
use. She soon rose to be assistant principal of the Hailey schools, refusing 
the principalship as taking too much time from her home dtities. 

June 6th, 1891, Captain Stowe died from injuries received in a fall from 



254 ^be (Breene family 

his horse. The accident was superinduced by an attack of heart trouble, 
the direct result of his arduous army experiences. ]\Irs. Stowe could never 
bear to live in Hailey afterwards. Her home is in Los Angeles, California, 
where she is active in church and club work. 

Mrs. Stowe's descendants by her first husband are these : 

Myra Estelle Noble-Everett^, b. Feb. 23. 1864; m. at Jamestown, X. D., to 
Ernest E. Everett, Oct. 25, 1S86. Their children are all dead. They were Irene, an un- 
named infant, Edith, Myra, Grace and Ernest Earle. 

Clara Noble", b. Aug. 22. 1865. Died, March 13, 186S. 

Ralph Noble^, b. July 17, 1868. Died in State of Washington, Nov. 22, 1891, leaving 
a young wife and posthumous child. Ralph. 

By her second marriage, Mrs. Stowe has these descendants : 

Cora Allen Stowe-Davey', b. June 11, 1871 ; married to Edward Davey. 
Eugene M. Stowe^, b. Dec. 4, 1S72 ; m. Oct. 28, 1903. to Stella Gimble. 
Arthur Wilder Stowe^, b. Aug. 29, 1874. His home is in Alaska. 
George Waltman Stowe', b. Aug. 28, 1876. Me lives in Alaska. 

VALENTINE NICHOLS^ It is a singular paradox that the most 
thoroughly good child out of this Nelson Nichols family should have been 
the one who delighted most in war and bloodshed. Even as a small boy, 
Valentine (or Tine) was everlastingly poring over the history of some war, 
or the biography of some fighting general. The only time he disobeyed 
his father in his life, he ran away to be a soldier. He was rejected four or 
five times on account of his size, but persevered until he found a more com- 
pliant recruiting ofiicer. When asked his age, he frankly told, and when he 
was warningly re-asked, unflinchingly answered : — " Not quite seventeen." 
Not all the gold of Australia could have made Tine Nichols tell a lie. The 
officer smiled as he looked at the eager, conscientious lad, slight, boyish, and 
weighing not a hundred pounds. "We'll take him," said he. " That boy's 
got the making of a soldier in him." 

He served three years, and saw hard campaigning. He could have been 
lieutenant or captain, but with characteristic self-effacement refused to ac- 
cept either office because of his youth. Twice he was called out of the ranks 
and publicly thanked for exceptional bravery. 

One of these occasions was late in November, 1863. In a forced march 
across the Huston River, in East Tennessee, a gun was caught in a crevice 
of a rock in a deep and dangerous ford, and behind it were four more can- 
non, a wagon train of supplies, and the ambulances of the sick and wounded. 
If abandoned, these would fall into the enemy's hands, who were near. Vol- 
unteers were called for to dislodge the cassion. Not even its own gunners 
responded. The night was dark, the water swift and deep and full of 
needle ice. 

Nichols stepped out. " Come boys ! " he cried, and nine followed him. 
They worked for six hours, but saved the gun and waiting trains. Then it 



Ebc Greene jfamil^ 255 



was that General Garrard called Nichols out, still in his frozen garments, and 
publicly eulogized him. " If we had a thousand men like you," he said, 
" we could take Richmond." They took up the march again, when he sud- 
denly sank to the ground from exhaustion. To this day he suffers severely 
from rheumatism and heart trouble contracted in that fearful night's 
exposure. 

In 1868, Tine Nichols removed to Brandon, Minnesota, where he lived 
for 35 years. He is now living in East San Jose, California. He has pros- 
pered financially, and his valuable ^Minnesota farm of about four hundred 
acres is so well kept that not even a thistle or burdock is tolerated. As a 
man, he lives his Christianity, and his charity reaches from his neighbor 
to the distressed of the nations beyond the seas ; for in his creed, all man- 
kind are brothers. 

His first wife, Antionette Stevenson, of New York, was unfortunately 
an invalid. When her youngest child was twelve days old, she died from a 
sudden return of her old malady. She left five children, Harold, Hubert, 
Clyde, Rosa and Lucien. Clyde was drowned while a child. Harold is an 
engineer on the Nothern Pacific Ry. Hubert and Lucien are also railroad 
men. None of the first wife's children are married, except Harold. 

V. D. Nichols' second marriage was to ]\Irs. Katherine Landa-Bartoss. 
She was born Nov. nth, 1853, in Vesely, Bohemia, and came to America 
when seven years old. The Landa family were of gentle blood, of the upper 
middle class. This daughter was always a person of distinctive character. 
She was energetic and forceful in other matters. Quick, resourceful and 
self-reliant, she is alwaN-s readv for an emergencv. If a machine breaks in 
the fields, she is ready to repair it ; and if a castastrophe occurs, she keeps 
her presence of mind, and is the first to suggest a practical alleviation. 
With it all, she is a keen business woman, hospitable in her home, and kind 
to the poor. Her husband is very proud of her. 

By his second marriage, V. D. Nichols became the father of four child- 
ren. Besides these, his wife was the mother of a daughter by her first 
husband. This daughter took the name of Nichols, and was considered as 
entirely belonging to the family. 

Valentine's children by the first wife : 

Harold Nelson Nichols^, b. Sept. 20, 1S69. Married, March 6, 1S98, to Mrs. Anna 
Rosedal. 
Hubert V, D. Nichols^, b. Oct. 21, 1S71. 

Clyde Bowman Nichols^, b. Oct. 9, 1S73. Drowned April, 1878, aged 4 years. 
RosEMOND E. Nichols^, b. Aug. 16, 1875. 
LuciAN Martin Nichols^, b. Sept. 4, 1877. 
His children by the second wife are these : 

Ethel NICH0LS-TH0RS0^i®, b. Aug. 28, 1879; m. Jan. 24, 1S99. to Tlieodore Thorson. 



256 Zbc (Breene family 



Benjamin Franklin Nichols', b. Dec. 14, 1880. 
LoRA Kezia Nichols', b. April 12, 1885. 

Mareus M, Nichols', b. Nov. 25, 1S87. 

Mary Bartos-Ukestad. Adopted daughter, and second wife's child by first marriage. 
Born April 17, 1874. M. Dec. 24, 1S97 to Julius Ukestad. Died Jan. 31, 1903, leaving two 
children, Marcus, born Sept. 2, 1898, and Valentine David, b. June 9. 1901. 

JOHN J. NICHOLS"* was the jolliest boy alive, laughing, joking, and 
singing from morning until night. He entered the Civil War at the age of 
seventeen, and served until its close. In 1866, when but eighteen, he went 
to north central Minnesota, then newly opened to settlement. His romantic 
disposition led him to Fort Abercrombie, in the heart of the Sioux Indian 
reservation, where he lived with the Indians for some time, learning their 
language and much of their wood and prairie craft. 

At twenty he returned to Brandon, Minn., and was then married to a 
French frontierman's daughter, Josephine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of An- 
toine and Samantha Pelissier. She could shoot, hunt or swim, and in back- 
woods' parlance, was "as smart as a steel trap." Six children were born to them. 

After a time John Nichols joined a sur\'eying corps working in the then 
unexplored territor}- of North Dakota. Believing home-seekers by the tens 
of thousands would flock in as soon as the region would be opened to settle- 
ment, he engaged in a unique business. He moved his family into this un- 
settled country, near the present city of Jamestown. Then for years he 
traveled over the wide territory, preparatory to guiding parties to it later. 
His Indian training had developed almost a sixth sense, a sensitized memory 
of localitv. He could not be lost and he never forg^ot lake or wood stream, 
or soil. No other man, Indian or white, ever knew North Dakota 
as he did. 

He had a hundred adventures. He had" a score of narrow escapes from 
drownings, stampedes of buffaloes, and terrific blizzards. Several times he 
was reported killed and scalped. He drove with his faithful greys 12,500 
miles a year, or as he expressed it, " Put a belt around the earth every two 
years." He was not in the least of a cow-boy type. He was a gentleman 
always, and an expert in his line. He became a member of an opulent real 
estate firm, and when the rush of emigration began, fortune in her most 
gracious mood smiled upon him. 

There are those to whom all the misfortunes of a lifetime come in one 
terrible storm. It was so with easy, trusting John. Business reverses swept 
away all. Trouble and death came into his home. North Dakota proved 
the charnel house of his hopes. When he married again, he sought his for- 
tune anew on the Pacific coast. He now lives at Palo Alta, California. 

His second wife was Miss Jeannette Emond, daughter of Robert and 
Elizabeth Emond. She was born August 7th, 1855, at Fergus, Canada. 



Zbc Greene JTamii^ 



257 



She came to the States in 1890 and two years later married. She is of good 
English and Scotch blood, and takes a pride in her family ancestry. She 
has a literary talent, but writes only for her friends. We ha\^e room for but 
two stanzas from a memorial poem of hers. 

"The Master walked in His garden, 
In search of the flower most rare. 
Amid all the flowers in His garden, 
He found one exceedingly fair. 

Gladly he gathered the blossom, 
' Twas a lily of spotless white, 
Pure as the riven snow it shone 
In the darkness of the night. 

" Grieved was the gard'ner's heart and sad. 
But the Master in tenderest tone 
Said, ' I've need of this one sweet lily. 
To adorn a place by my throne'. 

A voice like a dream of the morning. 

Said ' Beloved one, come, come away ; 
The Master hath need of thy presence. 
Then why dost thy coming delay .? " ' 

Mr. Nichols' children by his first wife all lived to be grown. At twenty, 
George was killed by the kick of a horse, and Fannie died at nineteen from 
an attack of heart trouble. Clara married early, and was left a young widow 
with two or three little daughters. She is noted as being one of the best 
cooks in this family of cooks. This results from her double French blood, 
as they, of all people, elevate cookery to a fine art. Emma, a successful 
teacher, married her distant cousin, Merritt Pierce, and lives at Wolcott- 
ville, Indiana. Nelson is a promising young man, and prominent in frater- 
nal orders. Before he was nineteen he married a girl of fifteen. He was 
but twenty when his only child was born. He lives at Jamestown. 

Antoine, the remaining son of the first marriage, inherited a love of 
travel. In 1896, at the age of seventeen, he enlisted in the naval service, 
cruising to Central and South America and the Hawaiian Islands. When 
the Maine was blown up in Havana harbor, the Baltimore, on which he 
belonged, was ordered to Hong Kong, China. Here she sailed away with 
Commodore Dewey for Manila. What follows is in Tone's own words, a 
graphic picture of the famous Manila Battle of May ist, 1898. 

" April 30th we lay just outside of the Bay. We waited until the moon 
went down near midnight. Then we put out all the lights only on the stern 

18 



258 ^be (Breene jfamilp 

of the ships, and steamed in, waiting about seven miles out from Manila for 
daylight. Then we saw the fleet and started for it. The Spanish ships 
commenced firing, but Dewey's orders were to reserve our fire until within 
3000 yards. This we did. We turned broadside, steamed slowly and poured 
shot into them lively, for nearly three hours. Nearly all the Spanish ships 
were on fire, and two of them sunk. Then Dewey signalled to get out of 
rangre and oret breakfast. 

"At 11:30 a. m. we steamed back. We soon had the Flagship Reine 

Christina and the other ships destroyed. Then the Baltimore opened fire 
on the fort at Cavite. The second shot knocked one of their ten-inch guns 
more than two hundred feet high in the air. At 2:00 p. m. we landed. One 
of the first things I saw was a big bunch of keys, very ancient and curious, 
hanofing in the door of the arsenal. I have them now." 

Antoine was one of the men chosen to return to America with Admiral 
Dewey. He was one of his Orderlies, and was one of the five w^ho went 
with Dewey wherever he went, — Asia, Europe and America, they were lion- 
ized, and attended parades, receptions, and court presentations. Congress 
voted them special medals, and they were personally presented to them at 
Washington, D. C, by President McKinley himself. Having had enough 
of globe trotting. Tone accepted a discharge, and is now a machinist at San 
Jose, California. 

John Emons is the only surviving child of the second marriage. This 

" last little one" is younger than some of his own nieces. This last John is 

not only the son of a John, but from one line to another, the descendant of 

a dozen Johns who have lived upon American soil. He is a baker's son and 

completes a baker's dozen that have borne this good, old-fashioned name. 

Ci.ARA Evelyn Nichols- Williams', b. May 2, 1S70. M. at Jamestown, N. D., to 
Harrison M. Williams. Slie is a widow with three children. The two oldest are Harriet M., 
b. Aug. 27, 1887, and Dolores, b. June 25, iSBg. 

Gkorge Albert Nichols', b. Oct. 21, 1871. Died, Nov. 9, i8gi, killed by a kick from 
a horse . 

Emma N. Nichols-Pierce', b. March 8, 1873. M. Aug. 1S96, to her third cousin, Merritt 
Pierce, of Wolcottville, Indiana. They have a daughter, Marjorie, b. Aug. 16, 1897. 

Fannie Lora Nichols', b. Jan. 5, 1S75; d. Oct. 23, 1893, aged 19. 

Nelson Peter Nichols', b. Dec. 31, 1S76; ni. Nov. 4, 1895, to Bertha Lebo. They 
have Elizabeth Irene, b. Dec. 7, i8g6. 

Antoine Nichols', b. Sept. 15. 1S79. 

By the second marriage John Nichols has : 

John Emons', b. Aug. 26, 1893. 
Linton and Lomoke', twins, b. Jan. 4. 1895. Died, Jan. 6, 1896. 

MRS. NANNIE T. NICHOLS-TUCKl Mrs. Tuck had the fore- 
thought to make out a list of her faults, and send them on in time to be 
used in this work ! 



^be (Breene family 259 



Mrs. Tuck has always protested that the name Nancy fitted no one but 
a fat, black, bandanna-turbaned cook. Therefore her friends have softened 
her name to Nannie. She might well afford to put up with the homely old 
family name, for she took the lion's share of all that was good, that the family 
blood could give her. 

She is fine-looking, with the coveted Marie-La Valley expressiveness of 
features. There's a world of meaning in a single flash of her eye, and her 
face reflects every shade of animation or emotion, even though not a word 
be spoken. Her tongue and brain are ready, and her wit as quick as an 
Irishman's, though never bitter, for she has the kindliest of hearts. 

Her husband is James Tuck, born December 20th, 1842, at Clyde, Ohio. 
He is the son of Shubal and ISIary Tuck, and is an original character. He 
is a Free Mason, an Eastern Star man, a G. A. R., and an old soldier from 
head to foot. He is a seven-times-dyed-in-the-wool Republican, a Baptist to 
the bone and marrow. But he is so hail-fellow-well-met with all, that no 
one takes offence at his ultraness. 

]\Ir. -Tuck was a successful druggist. He was badly injured during the 
Civil War, and has for years been an invalid. He put his business in charge 
of one he trusted. His confidence was misplaced. There was a sudden 
crash, and the sick and disheartened man faced what seemed absolute ruin, 
every dollar gone, and heavy debts against him. 

I\Ir. Tuck was too sick a man to do anything. His wife promptly put 
her household in charge of her daughter, conferred with the creditors, and 
soon convinced them that she had the vim and the brains to build up a new 
business from the wreck of the old. She was given a chance. She still con- 
ducts the drug store and its allied departments. Long ago Nannie Tuck 
paid off every cent of debt with full interest. She has been full of original 
ideas. All this time, church, temperance and Sunday school work has been 
actively engaged in. Nor have business cares made her dull, narrow, or ill- 
tempered. She is particularly charitable toward her sister-woman, and at 
forty-nine was able to sa}', " I have almost completed a half-century, and no 
woman can ever say I have spread an unjust report against her good name, 
or ever pushed a weak sister down." 

This woman who has stood so loyally by her infirm husband, and been 
a pillar of strength to every good cause, she it is who sent a list of her faults 
to be recorded in these pages ! 

Mrs. Tuck's first two children, both sons, died at birth. Besides them 
she had these decendents : 

Mary Lora Tuck-Baird^, b. Sept. 13, 1875 ; m. to Riley Baird, June 25, 1S93. They 
have Donald Keith, b. April 8, 1897. Their home is in Oklahoma. 

Grace Tuck-Ileff', b. in Tune. 1880. She is the wife of Charles Ileff. They have one 
son, Gerald Tuck, b. Sept. 21. 1899. 



26o 



Zbc Greene family 



LORA SARAH NICHOLS-LA MANCE', born April 2nd, 1857. ]\Lqr- 
ried April I4tli, 1880, to M. N. La Mance. She is the author of this book. 
As to what manner of woman she is, when she dies this might be inscribed 
ou her headstone : — 



LORA S. LA MANCE. 

Here Lies a woman with more hobbies 
than she had fingers and toes. 

* * * 

She always went at things as though killing 

snakes. 



She found the cup of life full and rich, and 
enjoyed it to the last drop. 

* * * 

She departed this life, firmly believing it but 

the prelude to an infinitely fuller and 

deeper life beyond the grave, with 

God and Christ our Saviour. 



In the words of the Psalmist, " The lines have fallen unto her in pleas- 
ant places." As daughter, sister, wife and mother she has all of her life 
met with more than ordinary affection. She has had time for study ; oppor- 
tunity to gather about her flowers, books and curios, and a chance to work 
for the reforms and beliefs she cherishes. In middle life she began to write 
for the press, her first efforts being along floral lines. Of her series of floral 
booklets, "Beautiful Home Surroundings," " House Plants," and " Pansies," 
75,000 copies have been sold. She has written historical sketches, etc., and 
one novel, "When Roses Have Fallen," a romance of early Ohio. She is 
now at work on " Our First Inheritance," a book on surnames, and a relig- 
ious biography, "Jesus, the Christ." This last she esteems as the best thing 
she has written. 

Lora S. Nichols was married April 14th, 1880, to Marcus N. La Mance, 
of Pineville, Mo. One daughter, Lora Lee, was born to them, January 27th, 
1881. Oak Lawn, the home of the family, lies at the foot of Battle Moun- 
tain, from the summit of which Pineville was shelled during the Civil War. 
It owes its name to the lawns upon the one hand, with their background of 
shrubs, roses and flowers, and a long slope upon the other, this declivity 
clothed with noble forest trees. 



^be 6rcene Jfantil^ 261 

M. N. La Mance* was born October i6th, 1844, of Huguenot- French 
descent His father was Lieut. James P., son of Jacob and grandson of John 
La Mance, who crossed the ocean. His mother was Cynthia H., daughter of 
Adam and Jane Given Caldwell. His parents were married in Georgia. ^Marcus, 
however, was born in the same county where he now resides. He shows the 
Scotch characteristics of his mother's side of the house, being conservative, 
prudent, farseeing, firm as a rock, and honest to the core. 

Marcus enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1863, and remained with it 
until the war ended. After the war was over, father and son returned to 
find the town nearly all burned, and the streets white with the bloom of the 
dog fennel. So destitute was the land that during a considerable part of that 
summer of 1865 the family's sole diet was branshorts mush and wild black- 
berries. 

In the spring of 1866 M. N. La Mance opened up a dry goods store in 
Pineville, following the same occupation as his father and grandfather before 
him. For many years he was Post Master, and he served four terms as 
County Treasurer. A man of more integrity cannot be found anywhere, or 
one more deeply respected. 

Lora Lee, the only child, has all her life been one of the dearest and 
most affectionate of daughters. She holds one silver and two gold medals, 
won in her school days. She has always been a popular young woman, be- 
cause of so generous a disposition, so warm a heart, and her entire freedom 
from affectation of any kind. 

Lora Lee La Mance was married April 14th, 1902, to Joseph C. Watkins, 
of Galena, Mo. He was born September ist, 1877. ^^ ^^ the son of Jo- 
seph C. and Betty G. Watkins. The father was a well known educator, and 
for twenty -one years before his death was superintendent of schools at Funis, 
Texas. It is in his honor that the Joseph C. Watkins Library of Funis, 
Texas, is named. The mother has made a life specialty of music, and is the 
author of an elementary work upon piano forte playing. 

Joseph C. Watkins, Jr., is an exceptional young man, a Christian, a 
scholar, and a gentleman. He holds several diplomas and is professionally 



*Several have asket^ the meaning of the family name, and also how La Mance is pronounced. It is 
an old and rather uncommon French name. Orl},'inally it was La Normanee orLe Normance, i. e.. The 
Norman, or of Normandy. In time, the Catholic branch, who remained in France, mostly shortened the 
name to Mance. The Protestant wing, in eastern France, after the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Aug. 
24, 1572, fled in terror over the border into Switzerland. Here their name became shortened into La Mance. 
200 years after this, John La Mance, native of a French-speaking canton of Switzerland, came to the 
United States. He pronounced his name as though spelled La Munz, with the last consonant prolonged 
until alrao.st La— Mon— ze. Whereupon his Southern neighbors made a mess of the name, twisting it in- 
to Lamonts and Lemons. Lemons was so .sour a .surname that the next generation Anglicized the pro- 
nounciation as La Mance to rhyme with la chance. So don't try to Frenchify the author's name. It has 
Americanized itself, and that is better. 



262 ^be (Brccne ffamili^ 



a Civil Engineer and Mineralogist. He is the General Manager of the 
McDonald Land and Mining Co.'s interests in Stone and McDonald Count- 
ies, in Missouri. 

LoRALEE Watkins^", bom August 2, 1904. 



APPENDIX 



Hppenbix 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE MATTESON, LASCELLE-WARDWELL, 

WAITE AND OTHER FAMILIES. 

A Correction. On page 17 Robert the Strong, the head of the royal 
Capet line, is spoken of as a Saxon leader in England. It should have been 
" a Saxon leader in Germany.'''' 

Fully one-third of the Ouidnessett Greenes are of Matteson descent also. 
Nearly as many are of Lascelle-Wardwell extraction. Toward a half are of 
Waite blood. All that I can learn of these lines is therefore given here. 
This is the first time the Lascelle-Wardwell or Matteson lines have had their 
British history traced. The task has been most difficult, therefore. 

THE MATTESONS 

Matteson, Madison, j\iathewson and INIathis are all surnames derived 
from Matheson. The Mathesons were a sub-clan of the royal siol clann 
(great seed or royal clan) of McAlpine. This clan united in its blood two 
rival royal lines, that for hundreds of years had divided Scotland's territory 
between them. 

Scotland lies to the north of England. From 55 B. C. to A. D. 448 the 
Romans held England as a conquered province. But this land of North 
Britain stubbornly resisted and perpetually harassed them. It was held by 
a Celtic people originally from the Orkney Islands. They were sun-wor- 
shippers, living in tents. They were fierce and savage, daubing their bodies 
with paint, or hideously staining their skins with the juice of the woad, or 
dyer's weed. 

The historian, Dion Cassius, speaks of the annoyance the Emperor Se- 
verus received A. D. 208, from Mseatse in the vicinity of Hadrian's Wall, a 
fortified rampart, one hundred and eighty miles long, built to keep the bar- 
barians off the Roman territory. vSeverus lost forty thousand men trying to 
overcome the Caledonians and this tribe. This is the first mention in history 

265 



266 ^be 6reene family 

of the Mseatse, presumably the nucleus of the Mathesou clan. The Romans 
later gave the name of Picts to all the North Britain tribes, including the 
Maeatae, 

After the Romans left Britain, in 448, the Picts plundered the Britons. 
This unwarlike people appealed to the Saxons in Germany to help them. 
The Saxons came, sent the Picts about their business, and gobbled up Britain 
for themselves. With them began England and English history. 

The Picts were no longer savages. They had already picked up — no 
pun intended — a few glosses of civilization, when in A. D. 400, Saint Nini- 
an preached the gospel to them and converted the South Picts. From that 
time their advance was rapid. But they had scarcely settled down to peace- 
ful pursuits when a rival nation appeared contending for Pictavia or Caledo- 
nia, as North Britain was variously called. 

A few centuries before Ireland had been conquered by the Gael, said to 
have been Milesians from Spain. They were a Celtic people, for they could, 
tliough with some difficulty, converse with the Picts of North Britain. 

The city of Tara was their capital, and at Tara's court were gathered an 
imposing number of bards, sages, sooth-sayers and law-makers, showing that, 
though heathen, their civilization was of a high type for those days. Mac- 
firbis, who died in 1400, quotes one of the old Irish bards as saying of this 
ruling class : — " Every one who is white of skin, brown of hair, bold, honor- 
able, daring, prosperous, bountiful in the bestowal of property, wealth and 
rings, and who is not afraid of battle or combat — is the descendant of INIilesi- 
us in Erinn." This is flattering, but graphic. 

A. D. 426, Saint Patrick the Missionary began his labors in Ireland. 
He was so earnest and faithful that King Laogaire McNeill became a con- 
vert, and the whole nation followed the King's example. The good bishop 
spent the rest of his century or so of life in Ireland. It is said that he him- 
self baptized more than twelve thousand persons. One of these was a boy 
of royal blood, Fergus McEarc, son of Earc (or Ferchard), King of Meath, 
the principal kingdom. Patrick was attracted to the lad and gave him his 
patriarchal blessing, a circumstance of which the prince was not a little 
proud and to which it is said he attributed much of his good fortune in 
after days. 

Fergus raised an army of men to conquer himself a kingdom in the 
land of the Picts. The Irish king seems to have helped him, perhaps glad 
to be rid of so ambitious a spirit so near his throne. It was A. D. 503 when 
the Irish army crossed the North Channel in their skin boats, and landed 
in what is now Argyleshire, Scotland. Fergus went forth prepared both to 
conquer and to colonize. He had his priests and his Seanachaidhc^ men 
skilled in herbs and remedies. He had his bards, one set of which chanted 



Z\)c (Brecne ffanul^ 



267 



the laws, and one the chronicles of the nation. These were his harper-her- 
alds, that led his army into battle. He had, as his rank required, his Oelamh 
Fila^ the Master Poet, whose office requires him to know three hundred and 
fifty songs of wars, destructions, adventures and battles, and to have at his 
tongue's end poems of Tir Tainigair^ the Land of Promise, and Magh Mell, 
the Plain of Honey, the half-heathen, half-christian Paradise, and the Isle of 
the Blessed, with a wonderful palace of glass that floats in the air. Only a 
ruler could wear the peaked hat of thin, beaten gold ; but the Oelamh Fila 
might wear the fringed and 6-color robe, lawful beside but for the king to 




"STONE3 QV SCONE" IN CORONATION CHAIR 

wear. These high honors show the control exercised over Erin's rude 
warriors by the learned class of that day. 

xA-ccording to most authorities, Fergus McEarc carried with him also a 
sacred stone from Tara. According to others it was brought to lona fifty- 
eight years later by Saint Columba. To the modern eye it is but a slab of 
dull red sand-stone, twenty-six inches long, sixteen inches broad, and ten 
inches thick. But this inanimate stone has played no small part in history. 
In after years fabulous stories gathered about it. It was said to have been 
the stone upon which Jacob pillowed his head when he saw the vision of 
angels ascending and descending a ladder from Heaven. It was claimed the 
stone was carried from Palestine to Egypt by the Prophet Jeremiah,* who 



* See "To-day in Syria, aud Palestine," by WiUiam Ellery Curtis, 



268 Zbc (Breene jfainili^ 

acted as a guardian of the Princess Circa or Scola, who fled to that land 
shortly after her father, King Zedekiah, was taken captive to Babylon, 
B. C. 580. 

The story goes that Princess Circa went from Egypt to Ireland, where 
refugees from the lost ten tribes had already established themselves. She 
took the precious stone with her because all her ancestors, the kings of 
Israel, had been crowned upon it. She married a royal prince, and from her 
time all the Irish kings were crowned upon it to the time of Fergus jMcEarc, 
who carried it to Scotland. 

Still another account of this " Holy Pillar of Jacob," is that Hiber or 
Iber, the Phoenician, came from Palestine and Egypt to Spain, bringing the 
relic. F'rom there he came with Miletus, and helped to conquer Ireland, 
which is sometimes called Hibernia in his name. Whatever its real history 
it was venerated as sacred. It was called the Stone of Scone, because the 
Scotch Kings were crowned on it at Scone, and L/a Fail^ i. e., the Stone of 
Destiny, because it was held to insure the supremacy of the kingdom that 
possessed it. In 1296, Edward I., King of England, captured the stone from 
its shrine at Scone, and carried it to England, where he had a magnificent 
cornation chair built to receive it. Every English monarch since then has 
been crowned at Westminster Cathedral, sitting upon the sacred stone that 
Fergus McEarc brought across the channel fourteen hundred years ago. 

King Fergus wrested West Scotland from the Picts, and founded the 
kingdom of Dalriada, or New Scotia. Tradition says both he and his son 
Eugenius were slain in battle. 

Half a century later a son of the royal Irish house became a missionary 
priest. This Columba, or Colum Ceille, sailed away to the new kingdom 
across the sea in 563. The king then upon the throne was Conal, a great- 
grandson of Fergus. Columba asked of King Conal, and of King Brude of 
the rival Pict nation, a grant of the quiet little island of lona, that he might 
build a monastery and a priests' college there. His favor was granted, and 
he immediately erected his ecclesiastical buildings. What lona did for Scot- 
land is beyond computation. For centuries it was, as Dr. Johnson has said, 
*' The luminary whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the bene- 
fits of knowledge and the blessings of religion." 

King Brude himself, and all of the North Picts, were yet heathen. He 
granted Columba permission to preach before him, but connived at his pagan 
priests and sages raising an infernal din as soon as the sermon began. Col- 
umba had a voice of extraordinary compass. He immediately chanted the 
forty-fifth Psalm in a voice so clear and loud that all the shrieks and yells of 
the Picts could not drown it. Kinsf Brude thought it a miracle and at once, 
with all his people, embraced Christianity. This good priest of the royal 



^be (Brecne iramii^ 269 



lioiise we are tracing did a wonderful, noble and lasting work. And he 
died, as became his life, on his knees at prayer. 

The two lines of Dalriada and Pict Kings were both now Christians. 
None the less they remained rivals at perennial war between themselves. 
Neither was able to expel the other, but for two centuries or more the Pict 
kings were the stronger. 

The history of these Pict kings is most obscure. Sir Walter Scott in 
the sixth chapter of The Antiquary touches off in ludicrous fashion the un- 
pronounceable names of some of their kings, — Trynel McLachlin, Drust 
McTallargam, Golarge McChanannail and Eachan McFungus, that made 
Sir Arthur sneeze but to speak them. Whereupon sarcastic Jonathan Old- 
buck put in a fling about "numbering in genealogy all the brawling, bullet- 
headed since the days of Crenttreminachcryme, — not one of 

whom could write his own name ! " 

Occasionally a name stands out with more distinctness. There was an- 
other King Brude, who in 685 killed the English King Egfred in battle, and 
gained great victories. There was pious King Nectan, who held great re- 
ligious councils, and built churches. After him, in 730, came King Angus 
McFergus, the most active of all. He conquered his rival. King Selvach, of 
Dalriada. The fortunes of the Scottish or Delriada kings were at low ebb, 
indeed. 

Not far from A. D, 800, Alpine came to the weak Scotch throne. He 
was both a warrior and statesman. He had the sagacity to see there could 
never be peace with two royal houses to claim the same territory. Having ob- 
tained an advantage over the Picts, he compelled their king to give him the 
Pictish crown princess in marriage. The Pictish crown descended each time 
through a daughter. The oldest son of the oldest daughter inherited the 
crown from his grandfather, instead of it going to the kings' sons, Alpine's 
heir was Kenneth, and Kenneth was, of course, the heir through his mother 
to the Pict Kingdom, King Kenneth succeeded his father in 836. Seven 
years later he succeeded the old Pict King, and the two kingdoms were 
united. It was Kenneth's policy to incorporate the Picts with the Dalraida, 
henceforth known solely as the Scotch, and their land as Scotland. It is 
said the Highland dress owes all its distinctive features to the Picts, and that 
the red hair and grey eyes, so often seen in Scotchmen, are from the Picts, 
also. On the other hand their language and customs gave way to the Irish. 

Kenneth was a lineal descendant from Fergus McEarc of more than 
300 years before. So far as we know, the oldest tribe among the Picts was 
the Mseatae. It was a particularly warlike tribe also. It is reasonable that 
from this old and heroic clan the royal line should spring. When the two 
peoples were merged together, the king's own lines would be naturally placed 



270 ^be (Breene family 

tog-ether in one royal clan. That there was such a roval line we know, 
which was called the Clan of McAlpine, in honor of King Kenneth's father. 
The Mathesons were a division or snb-clan of this. Their tradition has ever 
been that they were of markedly royal blood ; their name means "sons of 
heroes," and is apparently derived from the obsolete term of Mseatse itself. 
It is supposed, therefore, that they are descendants of the ro'yal Pict clan, 
intermarried with the ]\IcAlpine line until equally of their own blood also* 
All of the Scotch kings are descended from Kenneth, as are also all of the 
English kings from James I. The King of England counts among his pro- 
genitors the Pict and early Scotch Kings. These far-away kings, however, 
are as truly the fore-fathers of those who bear the ]\Iatheson or Mattison 
name as they are of England's royal family. 

A Scotch clan consists of tribesmen who intermarry until the humblest 
of the clan has of the blood of the head of the clan who gave it its name. 
Clan pride was great. The old Scotch traced their kinship to fourteenth 
cousins, or five hundred years to a common ancestor. The head of each 
clan was called The Alclntosh, The McDonald, The Matheson, etc. His 
word was law, above the king's own. When the chief would summon his 
men to war, he took a cross of wood, marked it with fire and blood, then 
gave it to the first man he met, naming a day and the field of rendezvous. 
He who received the " fiery cross " fled as though for his life, until he 
reached another one of the tribe, to whom he gave the cross and message. 
The largest clan in this way was assembled in two days' time. In time a large 
clan divided into sub-clans, who never, however, forgot their common tie. 

The royal clan of McAlpine divided into the sub-clans of McGregor, 
Grant, McKinnon, McNab, McPhie, McOuarie, McAuley and Matheson. 
They had many customs in common, and all wore in battle or parade the 
clan badge, a sprig of pine or Scotch fir. Scott in his Lady of the Lake, 
that has for its motif the pride and power of the AIcAlpine chief, put this 
song of the pine in the mouth of a hundred clansmen, as they sing of their 
chief, Rhoderic Dim. 

" Hail to the chief who in triumph advances ! 
Honored and blest be the ever-green Pine ! 
Long may the tree, in his banner that glances, 
Flourish, the shelter and grace of our line ! 
Heaven send it iiappy dew, 
Earth lend it sap anew, 
Gayly to bourgeon and broadly to grow, 

While every Highland glen 
Sends our shout back again, 
'Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! ' 



Q:be (Brecnc Jamil^ 



271 



"Ours is no sapling, chance-sown by tlie fountain, 
Blooming at Beltane, in winter to fade : 
When the winrhvind has stripped every leaf on the mountain. 
The more shall Clan Alpine exult in her shade. 

Moored in the rifted rock, 

Proof to the tempest's shock. 
Firmer he roots him the ruder it blows ; 

Mentieth and Breadalbane, then, 

Echo his praise again, 
' Roderigh Vich Alpine dlui, ho ! ieroe ! '" * 

The seat of the Matheson clau is supposed to have been in the High- 
lands of Rosshire, in Northern Scotland. They had their own clan music 
that their bag-pipers played, and they rushed into battle with a wild cath- 
ghairm or battle cry, ^'- Dail achd'ii da tJicar naif'' — "The field between 
two hills ! " This was their clan rendezvous, a valley plain where thev al- 
ways assembled to muster for warfare, for every ]\Iatheson believed that ill- 
luck would attend them did tliey muster elsewhere. They had their own 
tartan plaid, that only a Matheson might wear, and the men wore buskins, 
or short boots of deer-skin after a pattern of their own. 

For hundreds of years they had their great clan gatherings, a feature of 
which was the dancing of the clansmen. Expert dancers not only could " do 
the spring," as the Scotch say, in reel, fling and strathspery, but could wind 
through the intricate step of " Kemshoal, Kemkossy, Lamatrast, Kenbrade- 
noch and foro-ladln." 

After the Reformation the clan embraced the most straight-laced Pres- 
byterianism. Under James I., about 1608, there was a great emigration of 
the Scotch to Ulster, in the northern part of Ireland. Some of that branch 
of the family in which those wdio read this sketch are interested, were among 
the number. It was two grrandsons of these emigrants that came to New 
England in the early days, and whose descendants are now so numerous. 
One of these came to R. I., probably about 1668. This was Henry Matteson, 
born in Ireland, Oct.. 1646. He married Hannah Parsons, and became the 
head of a large line that has largely intermarried with the house of Greene. 
A large part of the Josiah ]\Iatteson line adopted the spelling and pronun- 
ciation of Mathewson. President James Madison was of Scotch-Irish ancestry 
also. At the time of his election, a part of the familypSecause he was the 
most eminent of the blood, adopted his form of the name in compliment to 
him. But Matteson, INIathew^son or Madison, all are of the same general 
descent. 

There was a James ]Matteson who came to R. I. before 1650. His de- 

*Black Roderick, descendant of Alpine, hurrah ! 



272 



^be (3reene Ifamil^ 



scendants are yet about Newport, and southern R. I. His line was easily 
enough traced, but as it has not intermarried either with the Henry Matte- 
son branch, or the Greene's, it is not given. He is supposed to have been 
the uncle of Henry Matteson. 

Many have asked for a genealogical table of the Mattesons. I will give 
the men of the family for the first three generations, and sometimes beyond 
that. Almost any one of the Mattesons can trace their ancestry back to 
Revolutionary times, so that this will be ample for them to complete their 
pedigree. Henry, the father, born in 1646 in Ireland. Married Hannah, 
daughter of Hugh Parsons and his wife Elizabeth, widow of Wm. English. 
Henry died in 1690. They had a daughter, Hannah, and six sons, Henry, 
Thomas, Francis, Joseph, Josiah and Hezekiah. 

CAPT. HENRY MATTESON^ b. 1670; m. Judith Weaver in 1693. 
He had 10 children, 6 of them sons. Two of his children m. Waites, 3 sons 
and 3 grandsons m. Sweets. Line much crossed with the Greenes. 

Henry^, m. Ruth .Sweet, 1720. His line was continued by Henry, Ruth, who m. John 
Greene*, (see Chapter XV.), Caleb, Dinah, who m. her cousin Jonathan ; Nathan, who tn. 
"Wealthy John" Greene's step-daughter. Freelove Bowen; Thankful, whom. William Waite, 
and Jonathan, whose 1st wife was Alice .Sweet, and 2d Meriba Waite. By his last wife 
this Jonathan had Jonathan, Jr., whose line is traced with the Howards, in Chapter XXVHI. 

JuHN^, b. 1706 ; m. Elizabeth Hunt. They had Thomas, who m. Hester Arnold ; John, 
Henry, whom. Dinah Spink in 1760; and probably Joseph, who m. Catherine Hatheway. 

James^, b. 1712. He ra. Enfield Greene. See Chapter XV. Their son, Uriah, m. 
Mrs. Waite Sweet. 

Ebenezer*, b. 171S; m. Susannah Comstock, Their son, Edmund^ m. (i) Susannah Mat- 
teson, of the Thomas Matteson- line ; and (2) Virtue Greene. See Chapter XX. This 
Edmund* had John, Rowland and Ezra, and by the last wife, Stukeley. Another son of 
Ebenezer'' was Ebenezer*, who m. Sarah or Susan Fish, or both. 

Hezekiah'\ m. Mary Sweet, 1639. He had 7 d., 4 sons. George*, was the father of 
Reuben, b. 1780. Reuben m. Barbara Bowen. Thomas was b. 1762, no other record, Jer- 
emiah, b. Dec. 31, 1743, m. Ruth Sweet at 19. He had Caleb, Jesse and Jeremiah ; Sol- 
omon, who m. Rosanna, of Josiah Matteson line ; and Reuben, b. May 9, 1767, who m. 
Sarah Matteson. 

It will be seen there were two Reuben^s, cousins to each other ; Reuben^ of George*, 
Hezekiah^, Capt. Henry'', b. 1780, m. Esther Burleson. They had Archibald, John, Reu- 
ben, James, and 3 dau. The oldest of the sons, Henry', m. May Angelyn Rouse, and had 
Walter H.^, who m. Eliza J. Hope, and has Minnie Angelvn and Susie Elizabeth. 

THOMAS MATTESONl Probably the second son, as he was m. 
Nov. 14, 1695, to Martha Shippee. They had 7 or 8 children, 3 of them sons. 

Thomas Matteso.v", b. 1703. He and his sister Mercy, married brother and sister. 
His wife was Susannah, the daughter of Frances, and granddaughter of John Briggs. Her 
mother was Susannah, daughter of John and Susannah Griffin-Spencer, and granddaughter 
of William Spencer, the emigrant. The first 3 sons are by her. The second wife's name is 
not known. His 5 daughters 1 do not give. 

David Matteson*. b. March 26. 1726. 

Richard Matteson*, b. Sept. 22. 172S. Father of Susannah, who m. her second 
cousin, Edmund* of Eben^, Freelove and Richard, Jr,, who m. Mary Spencer in 1775. 

Jonathan Matteson*, b. June 16, 1730. He had Josiah and two dau, 

Solomon Matteson*, b. Oct. 5, 1739. Married 3 times. 



^be (Brccnc family 273 



Francis^, (Prob.) born, 1763. 

Oliver'. Prob. by the second wife. Born, 1787. Removed in i8o3 to 
Otsego Co., N. Y., and became llie head of a well l^nown family there. By 
his first wife, Hannah IJrownell, he was the father of Celinda (Mrs. N. Tolls), 
Anson and Henry. l!y tlie second wife. Lydia Draper, he had Catherine 
(Mrs. W. Toll), Electa (Mrs. IJresee), Andrew P., Clynthia (Mrs. J. Angel), 
Edward and Martha (Mrs. D. Radley), all heads of families. 
The last wife of Soloman* appears to have been Sarah, the dau. of Jeremiah and 
Hannah (Matteson) Waite. By her he had Joseph, born 1792 ; Thomas, born 1794, 
' (who was the father of Oliver, born 1820), and Sheffield, born 1796. 
Joseph^, b. 1705. A Revolutionary soldier. His sons were Benjamin, whom. Mary 
Pierce, and Elias, b. 1746. 
Henry^, b. 1707. 

JOSEPH MATTESON-. His first wife was Rachel . By her 

he had Joseph, b. 1707. His second wife was Martha Greene. He had a 
large family of children by her, whose line is given in Chapter XX. 

FRANCIS MATTESON'^ b. March 15, 1680; m. Sarah, daughter of 
Richard and Phebe Nichols, May i, 1700. 10 children, 5 of them sons. 
Their daughter, Hannah^ m. Pasco Whitford, and had George^ who m. Di- 
nah Whitford, his cousin. George and Dinah's only child, Esther'', m. Jo- 
seph Tarbox. Roby Tarbox'' became I\Irs. Spencer, and Amanda Spencer'^ 
became Mrs. Job Briggs. See Chapter XX. 

JoHN'', b. 1704, had John*, who m. Comfort Weaver, and had son Eleazer. By a second 

wife, Martha Phillips, of Greene descent, he had Joshua, John, and 4 dau. See Chapter XX. 

Francis^, m. Dinah Tibbetts, 1740. 

Henry^, b. 1712 ; m. Rachel Greene of Nathaniel and Anna Gould, Warwick Greenes. 

She d. 1740, leaving prob. Rachel, who m. Wm. Richmond. 

JOB^, b. about 1714 ; m. twice. He had 4 dau. and 2 sons. 

Allen*, by his first wife, was b. Jan. 20, 1755. Removed to Berlin, N. Y. He 

was a Revolutionary soldier. His wife was Jermima Johnson. He had David, Job, 

who m. Rebecca Wilcox ; Ebenezer, who m. Ro.xanna Greene, and Allen, who m. 

Lucy Thomas. All of N. Y. 

Capt. David Matteson^, of above, m. Anna Fuller, descended from Dr. 

Samuel Fuller, the only physician who came over in the Mayflower. The line 

came thus : Dr. Samuel', Robert^ Samuel^ Abial*, Jeduthan^, Amos**, Dan- 

ieF, and Anna**. They had 8 children, but only 2 continued the line. David 

O.®, by second wife, Helen M. Rose, has Martha and Amanda. Job O.^ m. 

Hannah Nichols in 1848. She was descended from Hon. Thomas Nichols 

(see Chapter XV) thus: Hon. Thomas', Deputy Governor Benjamin^ John', 

Jonathan*. Capt. John^ Georgc^ and Hannah'. Job 0.« and Hannah had 

Edwin', who m. Alma Shaw, and Albert O.', a farmer and surveyor, who lives 

on the homestead taken up by his great-grandfather in 1788. He has many 

relics, and is keenly interested in genealogy. He married his cousin, Amanda 

E. Matteson, dau. of David O. They have Allen, Harold, Phyllis and 

Stephen. Job O.*^ had also a daughter, Eunice', who m. Owen D. Fuller, 

like herself, descended from Daniel Fuller, the 7th in descent from Dr. Fuller 

of the Mayflower. They live in West Shelly, N. Y.. and have Albert, Floyd 

and Eunice. 

Joab*, (by last wife), m. Deliverance Spink. He had daughters, and sons Ishmael 

and Titus, 

Thomas', had Joseph*, who m. Ruth Jones, 1762. 

19 



274 ^J^e (Brccne family 

JOSIAH MATTESONl Next to the youngest son of Henry IMatte- 
son, the Emigrant. Named after his mother's people. Born about 1685. 
He lived for many years in Foster, R. I., but his line are nearly all of West 
Greenwich. He married Rosanna, daughter of Zerubabel Westcott. [Rich- 
ard Westcott', Stukeley Westcott", (see Chapter VI), Robert^ ZernbabeP, 
Rosanna^] He had Nathan, who m. in 1738, David, who m. in 1739, and 
Josiah, who m. in 1746. He probably had John who m. in 1740, James, 
whom, in 1749, and possibly W^illiam, wdio m. in 1752. 

David*, Lived in West Greenwich, R.I. 

Silas*, m. Patience 1766. Had Rosanna'' who m. Solomon* of Capt. Henry* 

line, and Christopher", whose son was James McKinsey^. Also James Oliver, 
Gardiner, Royal, John and Josiah Gifford. 

David*, b. Oct. 25, 1763. A Revol. Soldier. He m. Dorcas, dau. of Silas Waite. 
They had Andrew and Waite, who niovtii to Pa, 

Amos'", moved to AJich. Had David, Joseph, a Chicago capitalist, and 
daughters. 

Peleg*, m. Polly James. 13 children. Rebecca*' m. Calvin Wilcox. Philip^ 
by two wives had 9 children (See chapter XVHI for line of David of these.) 
Simon® had i child ; Hannah'^m. Daniel Lillibredge and had Thurston, Rhoda, 
Amyand Hannah; Peleg Jr.^m. Hannah, dau. of Col. Edward Barber; luschild- 
ren are Mary M., widow of Charles S. Nichols, and mother of Nettie 
May Nichols, and David Edwin, who m. Alice A. Greene, (see Chapter XXI.. 
line of White Hat John), and Phebe C, wife of J. J. Greene. 4 children. 
Of the other children of Peleg*, Dr. James' line are all dead ; Fanny*' and 
Polly'' m. Bradford and Welcome Barber, and had 6 and 7 children respective- 
ly, of which Fanny's are all dead ; Albert m, twice, children all dead. An- 
drew'' has 2 c'.iildren, and Charles" is a bachelor. 

Jeremiah*, m. Sallie Bennett. John, William, Benjamin, George and Jere- 
miah married. 

Benoni", m. Alice, dan. of Col. Edward Barber. Had Phebe and Dorcas, 

and Eunice, who m. Reynolds Waite, and had a dau,, Mabel E. A. See 

Chapter XVIII. 

Josiah^, m. Mercy Nichols, ^March 5, 1746. She descended from Hon. Thomas Nichols 

thus : Thomas^, Thoma'^-, b. 1660, and m. to Mercy Reynolds ; Stephen^, m. to Sarah, 

and Mercy, their daughter, born, 1722. 

Stukeley*, m. Mapleb Hopkins. Their dau. Sally m. Caleb Shippce. 
Rosanna*, m. Ezekiel Matteson. of Joseph- Line. See Chapter XX. 
Rachel*, m. Burton Sweet. See Chapter XXII. 

Russell*, b. April i3, 1774 : m. Mary Straight. Had beside these given below, 
Luther, Abel and George. 

David A.* He had Bradford, David S. and Sarah. 

Wilbur*, m. Hannah Potter. Took the name of Maihewson, followed by 
all his descendants. 

Ezekiel''. Had George, Daniel, John, Charles, Byron, and 4 dau. 
Syria Wilbur®, m. Anna Eliza Hill, descended from Roger Williams, 
tlie Warwicks, Greenes, Hills. Aliens, Lascelle-Wardwells, and other 
first families of R. I. He is the proprietor of Tlie Mathewson, Narra- 
gansett Pier, R. I. See illustration. Their children are Mrs. Ida B. 
Benson, Thomas Greene, m. to Celia Madison, (see Chapter XX. 
line of Martha Greene Matteson), Syria Wilbur Jr., Walter H.. and 
Everett Irving. 



Zbc (Brccnc Jamil^ 275 



Peleg Clarke**, who lias Lucius, Albert, Lorenzo and Carrie. 
Wanton^, who had Horace, father of Jas. and Wanton. 
JoHN-\ prob. of Josiah^ m. 1740, had Job, Joshua, Abel and Thomas. 
JAMES^ prob. of Josiah^, m. Hannah Sweet 1749. They had Rufus who m. Lucy Spink 
and had Thos. who m. Maria James. 

HEZEKIAH MATTESON-, m. IMargaret, daughter of Zeriibabel and 
Jane Westcott. See under heading of Josiah. 

Abraham*. M. his second cousin, Freelove Phillips. See Chapter XX. Sons John, 
Abraham, Daniel and Thomas. 

The other sons of Hezekiah ]\Iatteson were Amos, Zerubabel, and Sam- 
uel. It is supposed they mostly moved to N. Y. 



THE LASCELLE-WARDWELL LINE 

There are no kings or princes to fall back upon in this line, or even 
lords. Nevertheless it has given to the world President Pierce, Susan B. 
Anthony and Gen. Nathaniel Greene, which is glory enough for one line. 
It has furnished progenitors for the Pierce, Ward well, Anthony, Waite, 
Slocum and Hill families. The entire line of Lieut. John Greene" is de- 
scended from them, through Abigail Wardwell, his wife. I confess the old 
records are tantalizingly obscure and chopped off. It has taken long and 
patient study to weld the links together. There may be minor errors, but 
practically this account is correct. 

Both lines have been hard to trace because pronounced and written so 
many different ways. Wardwell is the correct form of the name of the 
Welsh-English line. It is an old compound word meaning the guard's 
spring, pointing to the feudal landmark near which the first name-bearer 
lived. We find the name recorded in English, Welsh, ]\Iass. and R. I. re- 
cords under 24 different spelling, viz.: Wardwell, Woodall, Udall, Warrell, 
Woddle, Warden, Wordell, Wardall, Werdell, Woddall, Waddall, Wadle, 
Wadell, Wardel, Wardayle, Werdall, Woddell, Worrall, Udell, Wriddell, 
Warrall, Wodell, Wadel and Wadall. 

Lascelle, the other original line, was French. When the name-bearer 
came to .England, pronouncing the name as he did, with his Frenchy slurred 
consonants, and burry accent on the terminal syllable " celle," his English 
neighbors in despair gave him various names ending in sounds of zell, sell, 
or sail, [^litchell's History of Bridgewater.] It became Hazell, Hazeal, La 
Zelle, La Zalle, Yazell, Youzell, Yousiel, Uzzell, Uzel, Uzzall, Uzal, Usal, 
Usual, Lasell, and Uzzele ; or as Savage in his " Genealogical Dictionary of 
New England " says, after enumerating five U-capitaled variations, " or any 
other outlandish name ! " The Wardwell line, and Lieut. John Greene- 
branch of the Wardwell line, adopted Lascelle as a given name, and for 
seven generations used it and spelled it every possible wild way that could 
commence with a capital U or Y. 



2/6 ^be (Breene jfamili? 

About A. D. 1480, one Ithell, of North Wales, married a Miss 

Pierce. They had a son, Pierce Ithell, whose daughter Mary was ni. about 
1540, to Richard Woodall, Udall, Woddall, Worrell, or Wardwe.l], of War- 
wick, England. One of their sons, Dr. John Wardell, and a grandson, who 
crossed the ocean in 1594, had much to do with early Virginia settlements. 
An older son, William, was married by 1565 to Meribe Lascelle, the daught- 
er of a French couple, Gershom and Meribe Lascelle. 

Reading between the lines of the records, it is evident that the French- 
man came to England with his wife and family of grown children about 1560 
at the first muttering of the storm that finally broke into bloody wrath against 
the Huguenots, or French Protestants. Gershom had many namesakes for 
more than a century, and Meribe, her name anglicized into Meriba or Merib- 
ah and Meribeth, still has her namesakes scattered over New England. The 
next two generations of the family intermarried with tVie Slocums, Kings, 
Waites and Hills. Their names were so peculiarly odd and Frenchy, that 
they can almost be traced by that alone. Anteres, anotlier daughter of these 
Huguenot refugees, married a Pierce. There is more about her line in 
Chapter XXIV. 

There was a good deal of restlessness in the blood of these allied families. 
Before the New England settlement some of the Pierces and Wardwells 
went to Virginia, where the older generation of the Wardwell's had invest- 
ments. Some of these then drifted to the Barbadoes, where later we read 
of one of the Pierces owning many acres of land and 80 slaves. All of the 
Lascelle-Wardwell line seem to have been Independents in religious mat- 
ters, and under religious oppression quite ready to cross the sea for con- 
science's sake. Some of the Pierces were in Plymouth in 1623. ^"^ ^^" 
belling against Laud's tyranny about a score of the allied families of this 
line came to Mass. in 1633-5. 

There were three great-grandsons of Gershom Lascelle and Richard 
Wardwell among these. Two of them, William^ and Thomas^ were brothers, 
sons of Lascelle Wardwell". The other was their cousin, William*, son of 
Gershom Wardwell'. The fathers of these men, Lascelle and Gershom, were 
sons of William- and Meribe Lascelle the younger, mentioned in a preceding 
paragraph. William, son of Gershom, went to Portsmouth, R. I., and be- 
came a Friend. Two of his daughters married Anthonys, one of them, 
Frances, who married John Anthony, became the fore-mother of Susan B. 
Anthony. 

Thomas of Boston was the father of Samuell This Samuel's wife, 
Sarah Hawkes, in a fit of religious enthusiasm, in order to " mortify the 
flesh," appeared at church one day in the costume that Eve wore in the gar- 
den of Eden. The town authorities had her soundly whipped for it. When 



^be (Breene JTamii^ 277 

the witchcraft excitement broke out in 1692, Sarah Hawkes-Wardwell and 
her daughter were both arrested as witches. Badly frightened, they said it 
was Samuel, the husband and father, who had been bewitching people. He 
denied it, but was hung Sept. 20, 1697, as "an impenitent v/itch and pos- 
sessor of a familiar spirit." 

William, of Boston, brother to Thomas, was born in 1610. Came to 
the colonies in 1633, as " Our brother, Edmund Quincey's servant," (Church 

records.) He married Alice and had 5 children, of whom the second 

was Uzel (Lascelle), b. April 7, 1639. When the church banished Rev. i\Ir. 
Wheelwright for heresy, William, for being too friendly with him had his 
arms and freeman's privileges taken from him for a time. William died 
either at Wells or Boston in 1670. One of the entries in the Wells records 
gravely assigns a pew in the church to him, " To sitt in ye sixth of ye men's 
long seats in consideration that his son Elihu sitt in ye same seat." 

William of Boston's two sons, Uzel and Elihu Wardwell, both served in 
King Philip's War, 1675-6, as the Mass. archives show. Uzel, the ancestor 
of all of Lieut. John Greene's line (of Chapter XV) served under Capt. Nich- 
olas Paige, and the state of Mass. still owes him for his services, 5^, los 
($25.00). [Mass. Archives, vol. 68.] 

Uzel was m. May 3, 1664, when 25, to the young widow of Daniel 
Ringe, Mary Kinsman-Ringe. They lived at both Bristol and Ipswich, Mass. 
At the latter place, x\bigail, their oldest child, b. Oct. 27, 1665, was married 
at 19 to Lieut. John Greene of R. L I shall not attempt to give of the other 
Wardwells, except to say that William of R. L also had a Uzel, born the 

same year as the Mass. Uzel. He married Grace and their lines are 

entirely different. 

I will not attempt to trace in this the Kings, Pierces, Motts or Slo- 
cums. One other line needs to be spoken of. 

Another child of William and Meribe Wardell was Rosanna, who mar- 
ried Waite. They had several children who came to the Colonies, 

Melutable, the oldest, who married Richard Hill, of William, and was left a 
widow soon after coming to the new country ; Richard Waite, born in 1596, 
Gambiel, b. in 1598, and Thomas, b. 1601. All of these came about the 
height of the x\nti-Laud emigration. One of the sons, Thomas, went to 
Portsmouth, R. I., in 1639, and from him all the R. L Waites are descend- 
ed. D. Byron Waite's " Waite Genealogy " takes up their history, so it need 
not be given here. 

There were a number of the Hills came at the same time that Richard 
Hill and his wife Mehitable did. A nephew of Richard's, Valentine Hill, 
(of John of William), a wealthy and prominent man of Boston and Dover, 
Mass., was the head of a line from whom P'rances E. Willard, that peerless 



278 Zbc (Breene ffamili? 

soul and apostle of temperance, was seventh in descent. All of the lines of 
"Wealthy John " and Usal Greene (Chapter XV, XVI, XVII) can claim 
blood kin to her — an honor greater than kinship to a queen. 

Richard, who died in 1639, left two children that concern us, John and 
Rose (Rosanna), both born in 161 3, and who came together to the colonies. 
John married Frances, and lived at the " Great Lotts " i. e. Dorchester, Mass. 
Their oldest son was born about 1638. He married while yet in his teens 

Mary , and removed to Portsmouth, R. I. Here Jonathan, Jr. was 

born in 1657, to a nineteen year old father. Jonathan, Jr. was the father of 
Patience Hill who married Daniel Pierce. See Chapter XXVI. He was 
also the father of Caleb, Ebenezer and Thomas, all heads of R. I. Hills, and 
probably of Capt. John Hill, also. 

Jonathan Hill's second son, Henry, brother to Jonathan Jr. of above 
paragraph, was born Jan. 24, 1661. He was the father of Ann Hill, and 
Susanna Hill, who married the brothers " Wealthy John " and Usal Greene, 
Esther Hill who married John Nichols, and Mary Hill who married William 
Nichols. 

Rosanna Hill, the emigrant, undoiibtedly married Stukeley Westcott. 
They were both old friends at Great Torrington, England, and nearly the 
same age. Stukeley's descendants carried the name of Rosanna down for a 
half-dozen generations. For more than 100 years the name was never found 
in R. I. records except in families that sprang from the Westcotts. Stukeley 
and his wife followed Roger Williams to Providence, 1636. (See Chapter 
VI.) They had Amos, who m. two Stafford sisters, Jeremiah, whom. Ellen 
England, the step-daughter of his father's cousin, Hugh Parsons — see Chap- 
ter XX — Robert, who m. Catherine , Mercy, who m. Sam. Stafford, 

and Damaris, who m. Benedict Arnold. All these became heads of promi- 
nent families. 



THE WAITE FAMILY 



Rognvald, Jarl (earl) of More, was a friend of Jarl Harald Haarfagar 

lA.'VT* (Harold the beautiful haired). But when Harald in 872 

^^^ftai ^ made himself king of Norway, he put down Rognvald and 

all the other jarls, with a high hand. One of Jarl Rogn- 

vald's sons was Ganger Rolf (Ralph), also called Rollo, and 

Rolf the Dane. Deprived of his dominion, Rollo entered 

WAITE upon a gigantic scale of roving, plundering piracy. Harald 

coAT-oK-AKMs gxpellcd him. Rollo with his followers, A. D. 876, sailed 

to France and compelled the king to cede a large territory to him. Here 

he settled with his followers, becoming the first duke of Normandy. 

After him in succession came William, Richard and then another Rich- 




^be (Breeue ffamil^ 279 

ard. This last Richard, fourth Diike of Normandy, died in 1026. Among 
the grandchildren of the fourth duke were three that concern us. One of 
these was William the Conqueror ; the other two were brother and sister, 
cousins to the Conqueror. In 1075, nine years after he had conquered Eng- 
land, William the Conqueror made this cousin Roger Earl of Hereford. The 
EarPs sister was Emma, named after her great-aunt, Queen Emma, the wife 
of two kings and the mother of two others, all four of whom in turn ruled 
over England. 

This Emma, so closely related to earls, dukes and kings, gave her hand 
to one Ralf (Ralph) de Waiet. We only know of this man that his father 
was Ralf also, and was the son of an English father and Welsh mother. For 
the fourth of a thousand years' Ralf's and Emma's descendants are traced 
under various spellings, Waiet, Wate, Waight, or Wayght, Wayt, or Wayte. 
Richardus (Richard) who, in 131 5, was by Edward II. made Escheator over 
five counties, wrote his name le Wayte. During the reign of Henry VI., 142 1- 
71, the le was dropped from the name, and never resumed. 

The home of the Waites was mostly in south central England and in 
Wales. A scion of one of the North Whales families was Thomas Wayte, a 
cousin to Mehitable Waite-Hill, and Thomas Gamaliel and Richard Waite 
mentioned under Lascelle-Wardwell heading. This Welsh Thomas was a 
member of Parliament, and was one of the regicide judges who signed the 
warrant in Jan^, 1649, ^^^ the execution of Charles I. The family hold that 
upon the restoration of Charles II. to the throne in 1660, Judge Wayte was 
hung. His descendant, the late Chief Justice Waite, owned the death war- 
rant on which the regicide was apprehended. In it the execution was order- 
ed " Tomorrow, being the 30th day of the instant month of January, [1661 ?] 
between the hours of ten in the morning and five in the afternoon of the 
same day." 

Nevertheless, history says he was not hung. There were 59 judges 
signed the instrument. In the eleven years that intervened between the ex- 
ecution of King Charles I. and the restoration of his son, quite a number of 
these died, four fled to America, several escaped to the continent, twenty- 
seven were apprehended in England, and a death warrant issued against 
them. But Hume says explicitly that but nine were executed, Scott, Carew, 
Harrison, Clement, Jones, Scope, Berkstead, Cobbet and O'Key. The other 
eighteen, which would, of course, include Wayte, were imprisoned for life. 
D. Byron Waite furnished me with this cut of the Waite coat-of arms. 

From the five sons of Thomas Waite of R. I., Samuel, Joseph, Jeremiah, 
Thomas and Reuben, the R. I. Waites are descended. I am indebted to D. 
Bvron Waite's interesting work for manv of the facts here related. 



28o ITbe (Breene ffaniil^ 

OTHER FAAIILIES 

THE NICHOLS FAMILY 

The derivation of name, description of coat-of-arnis and reference to the 
f onnders of this line is given in the Ann Greene-Nichols section of Chapter XV. 

Late researches indicate that all of the original lines of Mass. and Rhode 
Island Nichols sprang from the same stem father, John Nichols of Glamor- 
ganshire, in the south part of Wales. He died late in 1598, leaving much 
property. His sons lived in Wales and the near counties of south England. 
Very likely this man was the same John Nichols, a friend of Sir Walter 
Raleigh's, to whom that nobleman made a grant of land in 1587. This is 
the more probable as several of his sons were concerned in various colonial 
enterprises. William, a merchant, 1610, was a charter member of the Vir- 
ginia Co.; Christopher and Thomas, merchants, were also charter members. 
John, a fourth brother, is supposed to have been he who made a West Indies 
voyage in 1606, which he described the next year in his book of travels, 
which bore the odd title of " An Houre Glasse of Indian Newes." A dozen 
years later we find John^ living at Tavenstock, Devonshire, near Wales. 
Most of his children and grandchildren came to the Colonies. The indica" 
tions are that Francis Stafford Nichols (b. 1595), William, Richard and Ken- 
dall (or Randall), all emigrants, were all sons of John. His daughter. Pru- 
dence, m. Thomas Fones in 1620. Their son, Capt. John Fones, was one of 
the pioneers of Quidnessett, R. I., and head of the company of whom John 
Greene was also one, that secured first from the Indians and then the Gener- 
al Assembly, the celebratad "Fones Purchase" region, 1772-7. 

Yet another son of John Nichols" was Thomas (?), who lived in Wales. 
His son was Lieut Thomas Nichols, the same recorded in Chapter XV. 
This Thomas came first to the Barbadoes in the West Indies. Then he 
came to R. I. about 1658 or 1659. His cousin Kendall (or Randall) Nich- 
ols was at Newport, and another cousin, Capt. Fones, at North Kingstown. 
Thomas himself settled at Newport by 1660. He was married the year be- 
fore this to Hannah Griffin, born 1642, a girl of Quaker parentage. Susan- 
nah, a sister of Hannah's, married John Spencer, the first of the name in R. 
I., making a bond of relationship between these two pioneer families. Chap- 
ters XXXIII to XL inclusive are all of descendants of Greene and this house 
of Nichols. A very large branch of the ]\Iattesons are of this line, Josiah 
Matteson Jr.'^ marrying Mercy, daughter of Stephen, who was the son of 
Thomas, oldest child of this Hon. Thomas Nichols. The houses of John, 
Perry and Joseph Greene'* (see Chapter XXI), each an important line, are 
also of this blood, these three brothers having married Catherine, vSarah and 



^be (Brccne Jfainil^ 281 



Hannah Nichols, daughters of Jonathan, grand-daughters of Deputy Gover- 
nor Benjamin, and great-grand-daughters of Hon. Thomas Nichols. 

None of the rest of the original Nichols colonists concern us save Rich- 
ard\ already spoken of as the probable son of John" of John^ of Wales. He 
was in Ipswich by 1630. His son, Capt. Richard of the Indian Wars 
(Pequot ?j, married Rebecca, daughter of John and Eliza Eaton. Their son, 

Richard^, m. Phebe , and their daughter, Sarah, in the year 1700, m. 

Francis Matteson-, head of one of the branches of that family. 

An uncle of Hon. Thomas Nicholsl Robert Nichols of Mass., too-ether 
with his wife, were killed by the Indians, Sept. 2, 1775, in King Philip's War. 

CHE COGGESHALL FAMILY 

As Humility Coggeshall was the foremother of the " Tribe of Benja- 
min," the largest family of the Greenes, many will wish to know of her line. 

The family dates back nearly to the Conquest, to a certain Lord de Cog- 
geshall, a noted Crusader. The town of Coggeshall, in the County of Essex, 
England, perhaps marks the ancestral home. In the oldest records the name 
is also spelled as Coxsall or Coxall. 

Hon. John Coggeshall, the first president of Providence Plantation — 
equivalent to governor of R. I. — was born in the County of Essex, England? 
in either 1581 or 1599. He sailed in the ship Lion, and landed in INIass. 
Sept. 16, 1632, with his wife Mary and three children. In 1638, when ]\Irs. 
Anne Hutchinson and her followers were banished from Massachusetts for 
heres}', he went with the rest to the Island of Aquidneck, which they pur- 
chased from the Indians, and where they settled Pocasset (Portsmouth) that 
same year. Portsmouth became the storm center of Quakerism. 

One of Hon. John's daughters, Wait, married Daniel Gould. This DanieL 
Gould, Mary Dyer, the wife of a Portsmouth neighbor, and President Cog- 
geshall's own son Joshua, introduced the Friends' doctrine into R. I. ]\Iary 
Dyer was hung as a " pestilent heretic," while in ]\Iass. preaching. Daniel 
Gould also passed into that forbidden territory, and "ye 22 of ye 9th month, 
1654," was whipped in Boston, receiving 30 lashes from a cat-of-nine-tails. 

Joshua Coggelshall- did not fare as ill. He married Joan West. Their 
next to the youngest child. Humility, married Benjamin^, the youngest son 
of John Greene of Quidnessett. 

SPENCER 

There is a tangle of Spencer-Briggs-Matteson and Greene marriages in 
some lines. The head of the New England Spencers appears to have been 
William\ who probably came to the colonies during the Anti-Laud emigra- 
tion. He was a married man with a family. After living for a time in 



282 ^be 6rccne yamil^ 

Massachusetts he removed to Connecticut, where most of his children re- 
married. It is supposed that one of his older sons was John^, first of the 
name in R. I., who became the head of the old and well known family of 
Spencers in that state. He married Susannah Griffin, a sister-in-law of Hon. 
Thomas Nichols. His son John married x\udrey, daughter of Deputy Gov- 
ernor John, and grand-daughter of Surgeon John Greene of the Warwick 
line. His daughter Susannah (^Irs. Richard Briggs') was grandmother of 
Capt. Thomas Briggs who married Mary Greene of Ouidnessett blood. See 
Chapter XXI. Two other sons, MichaeP and Robert^, by the intermarriage 
of their grandchildren, Daniel Briggs^ of Susannah'^, and Welthian Sweet^ of 
Susannah^, of Robert', headed a line that two generations later intermarried 
with the N. Y. branch of Quidnessett Greenes. There were many intermar- 



riages in later generations. 



THE BRIGGS FAMILY 



" John Briggs, pioneer and intimate friend of old John Greene of Ouid- 
nessett, was Secretary of the Colony, 1671 , and shareholder in the va- 
rious land companies of that day. His great-grandson, Capt. Thomas Briggs* 
(Francis-^, Richard", John^), m. Mary Greened See Chapter XXI. Another 
great-grandson, DanieP (Benj.^, DanieP, John^), m. the Welthian Sweet 
mentioned in Spencer paragraph. Very many cross marriages occurred be- 
tween the Quidnessett Greenes and the Briggs family. 

It is handed down in the family that there were three of the Briggs 
brothers who came to the colonies. x\lso, that as they sailed away their 
friends were kneeling upon the shore, praying for their safety. Their small 
craft was disabled, and from June to September they were afloat upon 
the then scarcely traveled ocean, the captain (who was one of the brothers) 
and his eighteen men having to depend upon their oars most of the journey. 
As usual, tradition has assigned this to a later generation, Capt. Thomas 
Briggs* being made the hero of the incident that really happened to his 



great-gfrandfather. 



VAUGHAN FAMII.Y 



Intermarried largely with the Quidnessett Green and branch families. 
The name is Welsh, and means "little." In the oldest records it is written 
Vahan. The first family of the name in R. I. was that of John Vahan. To 
him and his wife Gillian were born John^, 1644, and Davy, 1646. Gillian 
and Davy are Welsh names, and would indicate that the family emigrated 
from there. While there is no positive proof, it is supposed Mrs. Gillian 
Vaughan was nearly related to Hon. Thomas Nichols, also of Wales. Both 



^be (Breene jTamil^ 283 

lines head the same family names, and there were five intermarriages within 
the first 100 years after the Vaughans came to R. I. John Vanghan' and 
his wife were Qnakers. 

HILL FAMILY 

See Lasceile-Wardwell article. Of the American line, Henry, son of 
Jonathan and Mary, and grandson of John and Frances, was the ancestor of 
all the R. I. Hills. 

Rosanna Hill, named for her grandmother, Rosanna Wardwell-Waite, 
m. Stukeley Westcott and had any amount of namesakes in the next 150 
years. See Westcott Family. 



INDEX 



IFnbex 

The first three generations of R. I. John, Benjamin and Joan Greens 

are marked to distinguish them, a Q. standing for Ouidnessett 

line, and a W. for the Warwick members. 

Page. 

Abbott, Deborali Nichols, line of 213 

Admiral de Coligii y j49 

Akewright Cynthia King— line of 224 

Allen, Hon. John 121—164 

Andrews, Ehiathan and Jane ■ j(j4.5 

Andrews. Family of Chapter XVIII 

Andrews, Hannah Greene— and John 103-4—106 

Andrews, John and Ant ha Sweet— lino of 108 

Andrews, Mary Howard— line of 189-00 

Andrews, 3Iuddle ^ 100-1—103 

Andrews, Timothy— line of 107 

Andrews, William and Rebecca Greene— line of 104-9 

Andros, Gov 85-G- ii<i 

Anne Askew and Henry VIII Chapter IV 

Anthony, Miss Susan B ^15-G 

Anti-Laud Emigration Chai)tei' VI 276 

Apple-seed Johnny '238 

Archbishop Laud Chapter VI 276 

Arrest of John Greene of Quidnessett s.")-? 

Arhm-tDn. Major, and the Atherton Land Purchase 53—55-6 

Athletic Sports of the Early Greenes 8—34 

Awashuwett Chief 58—103-4 

Avisa Queen 0-7 

Aylesworth Rachel Greene— line of 103 

Baldwin Abigail Briggs— line of 135-7 

Baldwin Evelyn Briggs, Exploier 136-7 

Baptism of La Valley-King children 152-3 

Bai .tism of Roger Williams 45 

Barnes David Hartwell— line of 230-1 

Barnes Miranda Nichols— line of Chnptei- XXXVI 

Barnes Orville - line of 228-9 

Barnes Samuel King-line of 229-30 

Barrows, Henry, Martyr. 2-112-3 

Batti'rson, Ann Nichols- line of "-18 

Beating the Bounds 7 

Bennett Family 70-3-199 

Bentley Family '^1-3 

Bluebeard 1*9-50 

Houghton, England 5-7-20 

BoughtonFair 20 

Bradley. David-line of 234-5 

Bradley Family Chapter XXXVII 

Briggs, Capt. Cary, Caleb and Elias lines of ^^^'"^ 

Briggs Family Appendix 106—133-4-282 

Briggs, Mary Greene— line of 134-7-282 

Bromley Fami ly ^^^ 

287 



288 lIn^er 



"V- Page 

Bucc-aneers 143-52—164 

Biuaing of Prudence Island by tlie British 121— 1C4 

Captain Kidd, the Pirate 146-7 

Capet Kings, Greenes descent from 15-17 

Catherine Parr, Queen of England 24-7 

Cliarlemagne 14a-l4l> 

Charles the Bald, King of France 17 

Charles I., King of England 29—40-1-279 

Children, 35 under one roof 125 

Church at Cowesit 152-3 

Clarke. John, Tradition of 35-G— T4 

Coat-of- Arms 10-12 - 34 

Coggeshall Family , ^.,.. — — 261 

Columb a. Saint Matteson Matter— Appendix 

Coryell, Sarah Bentley- line of 72-3 

Count de Vermandois 13-18 

Crusades 8-15-15-18 

Darrohu, Ellen Greene— line of 98 

Death of Joan Tattersall Greene among the Indians Close of Chapter VIII 

Death of Hazell 117 

Division of John of Quidnessett's Land 74-5—112-110 

Dr. McSparran 52-3 

Doing Homage 8 

Draytons, Lords of 29 

Dyer, Mary, the Martyr 43—114- 125—281 

Early Economies 61 

Ebenezer Greene Spoon 101—165 

Edward 1 15-6 

LJNvard III Chapters III and V 

Ellis, Antionette M. Barnes-line of 23)-2 

Emerson, Nancy Barnes— line of 227-8 

Endicott, Governor 43—116-7 

Escutcheon of Admiral de Laval 149 

Estabrook, Belle Pierce ^ 160-170 

Esten, Sarah AVinsor-Iine of 180 

E.-tates of the da Greenes 6-7—19—28-30 

Excess of sons >• cg— 72 

Fusnions of Richard 11,'s Court 30 

Family Superstitions 59— 62— 83-4— 212— 2!.j-250 

Faneuil Peter 151-2 

Fergus McEarc, King of Scotland Matteson matter— Appendix 

Field Deborah Kittelle— line of 17C-7 

First Baptist Church in America 48—119 

First Greenes in America 39 

Following Roger Williams to R. I Chapter VII 

Tones Purchase 58- -103-4-100-280 

Foster Louise Nichols 218 

Franklin J. C, -line of 179-189 

Genealogy of John of Quidnessett 17-37-67-112-207-205 

Geva Princess lib 

Gillingham Greenes , 16-7—19—37 

Good-natured Greenes 59-76-7-156-207 

Gorton Samuel 50-52 

Grassie Sarah West— line of 92 

Graves of the First Quidnessett Greenes 75—113 

Greene Abel of James— line of 120— 15G 

Abigail Wardwell 75-6-175-277 

" Abner, Mortimer H.and Marion Jabez— lines of 94 

■* Lord Alexander de Boketon 5-8—67 

Amos and Capt. Amos— lines of • ^^5"^ 

Anna. Greene-Sweet ,^. . 123-130-1-«T 

" Archibald Harper and John West— lines of 93 

' " Beheaded Sir Henry. Personal, and Chapter V. of his Line 20-4-28—32 



1Int)ex 289 



Page 

Greene Benjamin. (Q.)— line of Chapter XXI 66—69—75 

Beujaniin^of Benj.^ (Q.)— iineof 132-7 

Beujamin^of Ben,i/'of Benj.2. ((j )— lineof 133 

Benjamin* of Heurys, (Q. )— line of 138-40 

Benjamin^ of James''. (Q.) -line of ' ll'.> 

Benjamin" of White Hat John. (Q.)— line of 128-131 

Benjamin of Warwick Line, (W) 130 

Caleb*, of Benj.^". of Benj.'^ 137 

Cale b^ of Joshua* 132 

" Charles A., of R. I..-]ine of 127 

Charles A , of N. Y ,-line of 95-G 

Charles E.. of California— line of 93 

Clarke.— line of 130 

Daniel,— line of ..Chapter XIX 66-7—75-6 

Douglas N.,— line of 139 

Ebenezcr,— line of 100-1 

Caiit. Edward.— line of Chapter XII 66-74 

Elislia. of White Hat John 127-8 

Frank L 125 

Gideon", of Caleb'^-line of 137 

Sir Henry. Lord Chief Justice 17-22—28-9 

" Sir Henry, of Drayton, see Beheaded Sir Henry 

Henry^ 66-7-112 

Henrys, of Benj.^-Iino of • 137-40 

Humility*, ilautrhter of B.'nj.s 84-87-8-132-133 

Humility, daughter of H.-nry^ 80-87-132-138 

Ira Wesley, Jonathan and Nathan— hues of 97 

Col. Isaac-line of 81-2 

Jabez=, Personal and line of Chapter XVI 84-89 

Jacob— line of 71 

Lieut. James^.— line of Chapter XX 67-8—75 

James^ of Maroon Swamp -line of Chapter XIV 66-74 

James*, of James^, —line of 80 

James*, of John of Bristol ,— line of 118-20 

Joan Beggerly (Q) 46-7—58-9-76-112-4 

Joan Tattersall (W) "^ 47-51-2 

" Sir John de Boketon, the Crusader 14n— 15-6 

John the Fugitive 11—34-5 

—Coat-of-arras and Sword Practice 35-47-74 

-R. I. Version 35-47-74 

RulingElder John of Mass— line of 39-40 

Surgeon John ( W) Chapters VI, VII. VIII 36-7 

John of Newport 46-49 

John of Quidnessett(Q) Chapters VI. VII. VIII, IX and XI 17-37-105-112 

Deputy Governor John (W) 49-50 

John Flavel 46-114 

Lifiut. John (Q) Chapter XIII-36 -58-9— 69— 74-5— 78-9 

John of Bristol (Q)-line of 116-8 

Wealthy John^ (Q)-Chapter XV 75-105 278 

White Hat John3 ( Q)-]ine of 120-13il 

" John Jr. of Penn Yan, N. Y. lU 

Joseph* of White Hat John^-line of 131 

" Joshua^ of Benj.^— line of 140 

Joshua* of White Hat John^ -line of 131-2 

" Josiah'-line of 127 

-Kittelle line 119 

Greenes as Land Owners Chapter V 7 

Greene Lords de, of Greene's Norton Chapter IV 

Matthew— line of 134 

Most Prolific Line 125 

" Myron W., Personal and line of 89-97-8 

" —the name of 7 

" Nathan*-line of , 89 

" Gen. Nathaniel 60—52 

Sciuire Nathaniel*, and NathanielJr.'— lines of 79 

20 



290 flnbex 



Page 

Green's Norton Chapter IV 

Greene Philip* of White Hat John^— line of 127-8 

Seth'-lineof 127 

Silas*— line of 132 

" Nerval Douglas— line of 137-40 

Greenes, State kept by the Lords de 8 

Greene Sir Thomas de Boketou* , 16 

SirThomas"2 24—35 

Thomas* of White Hat John^— line of 127 

Eev. Timothy— line of 88 

UseP— line of 99—100—278 

Usual*— line of 100 

Sir Walter de Boketoii^ Ua— 15-6 

Wardwell— line of 80-1 

Greenes' War Record 3—115—6 

War wick— the Family of Chapters VII— VIII 45-7—49—52-59 

Guernsey, Belle Lamson— line of 241 

Haight, Delilah King— line of 200-1 

Hall, Rachel Briggs-line of 137 

Halstead's Genealogies 15 

HarkneyHill 70—79 

Harrington Line 175-7 

Harrington, Hannah Kittelle— line of 175-7 

Hatha\Yay Line Chapter XXIII 

Hemenway, Sarah Bradley—hne of 236 

Henry I-, King of France 17 

Henry IV 30-2 

Henry VII See John the Fugitive 

Henry VIII 25-7 

Henry-Howard Line , 129 

Heralds' Visitations 33 

Heredity, Remarkable Instances 9 

Hill Family Appendix 45—77-117 

Holden, Randall 50—123-215 

Holmes, Elder Obadiah 43-79—116-7—188—205 

Holyma-n Ezekiel 45—50-107 

Hopkins, Dinah King -line of Chapter XXVII 

Hopkins, Miss Lois 192-3 

Howard Family Chapter XXVII 180 

Howard, George Paris— line of 190 

Howard, Hannah Sweet 110—18'.) 

Howard, Joel 187—202-3 

Howard, John W. -line of 178—189-90 

Howard, Mary Bromley— line of 180 

Hugh Capet, King of France 17 

Huguenot Persecutions 149-151—276 

Huling. Ray Greene 114 

Id ol of Irmi nsaul I4b 

Indian Anecdotes 76— 167-212— 239 

Indian Rocks 153—203 

Indian Transactions 45—47-51—53-5-281 

Intolerance of Puritans Chapter VII 277—281 

James, Miss Hattie 103-4—108—121 

James, Henry, the Novelist 130 

Jane, Superstitions of the Name , 45—57—62—245 -250 

Johnson, Jennie Field— line of 177 

" John of London " , 74 

John, King of England 2—5-6-9 

Kidd, the Pirate 146-7 

King Caleb and Caleb, Jr.— lines of ' 182 

King Charles, Sr., George and Vernon— lines of 222 

King, Cynthia Nieliols and Henry— line of Chapter XXXV 203 

" Cyrus— line of 199-200 

J 



flnbex 291 



Page 

King David— Family of Chapter XXIX 

" Deborah Greene— Desceadauts of — All of Part III., Chapter XXII 

Deborah Greene— Personal 116-20—143 

De Goliar— line of 223 

" History of family 143-5 

" George-Family of Chapter XXVI 

*• Job and John— linos of 154-5 

*• Joel— line of Chapter XXX 182—209 

•' John, the Buccaneer 143—152 

** Judge E. B.— lino (if 200 

'• Magdalen— line of Chapter XXII. Personal 147-8—150-2 

" Magdalen— Home of 153—202-3 

" Magdalen Cemetery 153-4- 203 

King Philip's War 54-58-74-116-277-281 

King Ray and Stukeley— line of 204 

King Samuel, of Magdalen 154-156-7 

"Stephen 203-4 

•• Stephen— line of Chapter XXXI 

" Thomas M.— line of 198 

" Whipple and John W. P.— lines of 180-1 

Kittelle Family Chapter XXV 120-175 

Kittelle, Sara E • 119-186-193 

Lady Lucie de la Zouche, of the Royal line 9—16-7—19 

La Mance, Lora S 62-116-132-151- 245-260-2 

LaMance, M. N 261 

LamsonFamily Cliapter XXXVIII 211-243 

Lamson. Judge J. C. and Hubert T.-line of 241-2 

Laseelle and Lascelle-Wardwell Families Appendix 83—99-118-134—144 

Latin Documents and Inscriptions Chapters III,, IV. and V 

La Valley Family Chapter XXII 

La Valley, Marie 154-6—216—221—259—250-1 

La Valley. Peter 150-2 

Leonard-Harris, Flora Pieree-line of 169-70 

Lewis Elinor Greene— line of 132-3 

" London John " '* 

London Plague 144-5-206-237 

Longevity of the Ward wells 15-99 

Madison— lines of Joseph and Ezekiel 121—274 

Maple-Root Church 88-104-6 

Massachusetts and Rhode Island Troubles Chapters VII, VIII and IX 

Matteson, David-line of'. 110-274 

David E-line of 128-274 

Elizabeth King— and Deacon John lines 108— 122— I5.j 

Francis^, Allen*, Capt. David^ and Albert O.'-lines of 273 

Family, History and Pedigree Appendix 263-275 

Henry, the Emigrant 117—272 

—Howard line 1^5-7 

Josiah^, Pelegs, and Peleg«-lines of 280—274-5 

Rev. S. K., Personal, and of his line 157—187 

Mayflower 162-3-191-273 

McCrossen, Mary Waite— line of 1^^ 

McNall. Harriet Bai-nes— line of 229 

McQueen, Family of "^2 

Miantanomo Chief ^^ 

Name of Greene • ' 

Name of Meriba. l79-276.-Welthian, 37.-Usual • ■ 99-275 

Name Superstitions 62-83-4-212-245-250 

Name-Spoon ^^ 

Nancy, Traditions of 62-83-4 

Narragansett Indians 

Nichols, Albert, Leander and Daniel-lines of 218 

Ann Greene— line of ^^'"^ 

David Chapters XXXII to XL. Personal 87-90-208-9 

Family History...., Appendix 85-6 



292 Un^ex 



Page 

Nichols. Fernando— line of 249-52 

" George', and Jolin Convass' lines Cliapter XXXIX 

,* George*, of Rielimond line of 216-7 

Henry'*, and Perry, of liielimond— lines of 217 

Henry', of David— line of Chapter XXXIII 233—243 

Ira— line of 213 

Jolm J.— line of 256-8 

John and Franklin, of Richmond 219 

Kezia 247-9 

Nancy King 62—197—207-8 

Nelson Chapter XL 172—238-9-243 

Richmond- line of Chapter'XXXIV 2ii3 

Hon, Thomas, the Emigrant Appendix 85—207 

" Valentine D.— line of 254-6 

Norman Uprising 7-8 

Old Field Graveyard 59-76 

O'Neil, Mabel Waite 111—274 

Pagan Saxons 14a— I4b 

Parsons Family Appendix 116-8-179-185—188—205-278 

Percell, Jane Lamson— line of 240 

Pict Kings Matteson Matter, Appendix 

Pierce Amasa and Rev. D.M.- lines of 173-4 

Clark-line of 167-8 

Ebenezer— line of 166-70 

History Chariter XXIV 276 - 278 

Rev. Francis and Joseph Ansel— lines of 168-9 

John, the Patentee 162 

Mary King— line of Chapter XXIV 165-6 

'• Capt. Michael 162-3 

Olive Greene-line of Chapter XXIV 165—171 

Samuel, the Patriot 164-5—171 

Captain Stephen— line of 172-4 

Captain William 162-4 

Pirates 145-7 

Providence Settlement Chapters VII and VIII 

Prudence Island 164-5 

Queen Avisa 6-7 

Queen Catlieriue Parr 24-7 

Queen Isabelle (1201) 6-7 

Queen Isabelle (1395-9) 3o-l 

Quidnessett 47—53-4—65 

Quidnessett Greenes All of Parts II and III 17—37 

Quidnessett Land Dispute 53-56-8—113 

Quiney, Sieur de. Earl of Wincliester : 18 

Raleigh, Sir Walter 280 

Regicide Judges 191-2—277—279—281 

Religious Persecutions Chapters VI, VII 116-7—144 

Richard II 29-31 

Richard III 35 

Robert the Strong 14a-17-263 

Robert I., King of France 17 

RogersFamily 128-9 

Royal Clans. Matteson Matter Appendix 

Royal Genealogy of Greenes - 15-9—149-51 

Ryder History 134-5 

Sale of the old Quidnessett Farm 114 

Scofield, Orril Pierce -line of 174 

Sehomack, the Pottowatamie Chief 167 

Seigfried King 14l) 

Shakespear's Henry Green 31-2 

Six-Principles Baptists 105 

Slaveliolding 60-1-75-163-4-276 

Smith, Richard 47-53-6-59 

" his Castle and Trading-Post 47-53-5 



■flnbejc 293 



Page 

Spencer and Warwick -Greene Data Appendix 123-4—134 - 280-2 

Stone ot Destiny, or Stone of Scone Matteson Appendix 10 

Stowe, Mrs. Attie A 3—252-4 

Stowe, Mrs. Attie A., Poems by AH poems in Parti. Also 249-252 

Sweet Family 45— 107— l55-f. 

Sweet, Re V. Pliilip ^ 109 

Sweet, William Leon llO 

Superstitions 61-2—83-4—146—212—245 

Tarbox, Mrs. Caroline Lewis 122—133 

Daniel and David— lines of 124 

Fones' W - line of 123 

George W.*, and Hiram'— lines of 122 

" Hiram^— line of 123 

Tarbox Family and History 122-4 

Tarbox— Matteson— Spencer Line I22-1 

Terry, Mariam Barnes— line of 229-30 

Titus Line 72-3 

Titus, Dr. Fran k H 72-3 

Tombs of the Lords Greene Chapter V 22-3 

Tradition of Loudon John 35—6—74 

of the Regicide Judge 74 

of John Clarke 35-6—74 

Tuck. Nannie T. -Hue of 258-» 

Updike House 54 

Usual, Name of 99—275 

Vaughan Family 86—187—282-3 

Vermandois, Count de 13—18 

Waite, D. Byron— line of 130-1 

Wn ite. El vaton— line of 130 

Waite Family Appendix 46—118—130—185—205 

Waite, Mary Greene— line of 130-1 

War Anecdotes 17-8—80—121—210-254—557-8 

Ward well Family Appendix 44—46—74-5—99—205 

Ward well, Sarah Ha wks— Anecdotes of 276-T 

Warwick 51 

Warwick Greenes See Greenes, Warwick 

War of the Roses Chapters IV and V 

Weaver, Mary Greene— line of 79-80 

West, Huldah Green-line of 91 

West, Henry Tracy and George H — lineslof 92 

Westeott Family 117-9-188-205-6 

Westcott Stukeley 50-117-119-179-206-278 

Whaley, Judge 121-191-2 

Willard, Miss Frances E 277-8 

Williams, Roger 44-5-50—54-5-105-107—114-117 

Wirebaugh, Marilda F. Lamson 241-2 

Witchcraft - 61-75-277 

Wittekind 14a-14b- 67 

Wolcott Family 168-200-226 

Youngest Soldier of the Revolution 116 



u 



The Greene Tree 
and Its Branches 



A New Book on a New Plan 
Nothing Else Like It 



This book gives the only full account of the rise and early history of 
the House of Greene. It brings the narration down the centuries to the 
coming of the Greenes to the American colonies, and to the part that the 
Warwick and Quidnessett Greenes took in the stirring pioneer days of Rhode 
Island. It is the fullest history that has every appeared of the large, but 
hard to trace line of the Quidnessett Greenes. So peculiarly is the story of 
this House the story of Rhode Island and the other New England colonies 
as well, that COPIES OF this book have been 

Ordered for Reference by the Astor Library, R. 1. 

Historical Society, N. Y. Historical Society, and 

Other Public Libraries and Historical Societies. 

When this edition of 1200 volumes is exhausted, no more can be ob- 
tained. An historical and chronological work of this kind is an expensive 
undertaking. The author has small hopes of getting back in dollars and 
cents what this book has cost her. She will never repeat the experiment. 

Price, $5-00 Each, Prepaid 



I 



».»' ADDRESS 

MRS. LORA S. LA MANGE, PINEVILLE, MO. 






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